Dream Link Online
by DJTiki
Summary: Dream Link Online. An online game meant to replace the wonderful feeling of being with Pokémon. By becoming the Pokémon and battling it out in combat, where your only limit is your imagination, this online game is truly immersive! Can a player, who finds current life bland, balance his priorities from online and real life? Or is this but a distant dream he cannot make any links to?
1. Episode Listings

**Dream Link Online- Episode Listings**

**_Episode 0- The Hooded Figure (Published)_**

_Rumors run ramped about a man capable of annihilating anyone. The man in the black hood cannot be stopped. Or can't he? A group of hopeful players takes this man on in an all or nothing battle, a common activity in Dream Link Online, the most popular online game in the world!_

_**Episode 1- Nothing Changes, part 1 (Published)**_

_Nothing changes. This is the mentality of young Kyle, a spectator and observer of his own, helpless, mundane life. A world where a choice caused Pokémon to mysteriously disappear. A world where the exciting life of a trainer is no more. But something changes when a friend decides to move into the same apartment building as him._

_**Episode 1- Nothing Changes, part 2 (Published)**_

_Kyrino and JadeStrike attempts to enjoy playing Dream Link Online with their friend Stellar Starlight before they have to go to work, whether it would be crafting, battling, or just plain socializing. However, a salty loser is out for revenge and jeopardizing Kyrino and JadeStrike's short time is on the top of his list._

_**Episode 2- Money Talks, part 1 (Published)**_

_Dream Link Online is running a major event! This event's winners will get all sorts of cash prizes and awards! Everyone is scrambling to organize an elite team of online players. A group of talented players are short one player and they look to an old friend to join them. Meanwhile in the real world, Jason is pressured to get a job and finally move out. _


	2. Episode 0: The Hooded Figure

_**A/N:** Ello! One and all, children and people of all ages. Welcome to my new story! This is some idea that I had and I thought that'd I'd make sure to write it! This is labeled as an Adventure/Drama because it's exactly that, an action-paced/drama-filled story. If you want to submit an OC, make sure to gvie my profile for further details! With all that said, **ENJOY! :)**_

* * *

A figure stands in the very distance over a cold and unforgiving desert. Five figures idly wait by only mere feet from their target. They look around their surroundings. On the ground lays four bodies, each with a red square notifications hanging over their backs. These square speech bubbles all had one thing in common:

"**DEAD**" and a threatening set of skulls and crossbones to symbolize the humiliation.

The leader, holding a simple sword and shield was breathing heavily. Never before has him and his friends been driven to a corner like this. The hot dunes of sand blows over like a river of wind, the man sweats over. Time was running out. Again, he took a long look at the heroes who had fallen under their opponents vile scythe:

_**KelvinX (DEAD)**_

_**Miko-san (DEAD)**_

_**Universal Answer (DEAD)**_

_**Liz (DEAD)**_

Their opponent reveals his hand. He lifts up and twirls around his scythe, seemingly controlling the winds, themselves. He taunts them, staring deep within the windows of the man's soul with threatening red eyes. One slam; His scythe crashed along the soft dirt, yet it screeched like a bomb. The leader gets ready his blade and stares at the remaining four friends.

They were trembling, barely keeping grasp of their weapons. It was time for him to speak up. His lips shouted, "Do not be frightened by this one man. Powerful as he is, he simply but one man! If you are truly a fighter of this world, then you should not feel guilty over our friends' death. They chose this path and knew the consequences. Do not let our fallen heroes down. We will not fall because who are we?!"

No one answered his plea. His face frowned, his lips quivered, and he shouted at this comrades. "I CAN'T HEAR YOU! WHO ARE WE?!"

A small gathering whispered out their name, "the desert raiders..."

"I CAN'T HEAR YOU! WHO ARE WE?!" he repeated. The crowd slowly started to build their anticipation. They said it again, but with confidence.

"The Desert Raiders."

He held out his left ear towards his party and smacked his lips, "I STILL CAN'T HEAR YOU! WHO THE HELL ARE WE?!"

**"THE DESERT RAIDERS**!" Now it appeared that everyone was on board. Their gazes grew fierce and their battle stances readied.

"And what do the Desert Raiders do?"

**"WE BURY SCRUBS**!" they chanted.

"THAT'S RIGHT! If you're all with me, then I have a plan to beat this guy. You with me, right?" The other four people nodded with agreement. Their leader smiled. "Okay, then huddle up." A single command was followed and all of the party huddled together in a tight circle, keeping communication between the five of them.

"This guy's tough, Boss. He already shot down Kelvin and he was our best bet," a burly man with multiple ninja stars stated.

"Yeah, we're gonna need a miracle to beat him!" some little girl yelped. Their leader, avid and ready, grinned.

"Well, we're about to make one." He first faced his vision to the little girl who had recently spoken. "Maven, how many Dream Links do you have left on you for this battle?"

* * *

**Username: MavenWendy**

**Species Hybrid: Castform**

**Speciality: Weather**

* * *

MavenWendy thought it over for a second, adjusting the cloud shaped glasses around her eyes. She then resorted to checking the designated small jewels engraved across her Conductor's Stick. Out of the three jewels that had been implanted at the Stick's stub, two were dimmed a dark black. She sighed, "Only have one left."

The Desert Raiders' leader responded, "Can you check which one it is?"

Maven tapped on the only glowing jewel left on her Conductor's Stick. A grey hologram popped open in front of her eyes. She started reading through the contents. When she was finished, she slid down the grey notice and answered, "My last Dream Link is Drizzle. Do you think it'll be useful?"

"Depends, who here has any Water-type Modules?" Maven searched around her group of raiders and not a single one budged. "So no one?"

A small boy raised his creamy white hand, although almost entirely nervously, shaking and fidgeting, completely unsure if it really wanted to draw attention at all. He swallowed his spit, "Uhh… I have a bunch of Hydro Cannons in my inventory. D-d-d do you think that c-c-c could maybe, I don't know, umm…" The dainty kid swallowed hard. His voice cracked on his last word, "Work?"

The Desert Raider leader, knowing the small kid, nodded. "Perfect! Use those from far away when Maven uses her Drizzle Dream Link!"

* * *

**Username: Oasis**

**Species Hybrid: Golduck**

**Speciality: Water**

* * *

Oasis took a big boy sized breath and nodded fast, "O-o-okay!"

Next up was a confident girl with black, bug eyes and a black combat skirt and a magenta sleeveless top. On both of her hands were two automatic machine guns. "Uzzie, I need you to light this guy up with those machine guns! Keep him as far from attacking from me as possible! If you have to, I want you to throw so many Flash Module Grenades at him that he can't tell if he's getting his arm or leg cut off!"

* * *

**Username: Uzzieshot**

**Species Hybrid: Ariados**

**Speciality: Automatic Fire**

* * *

Uzzieshot arrogantly winked, pressing her hand against the trigger buttons on her pink firing monstrosities. "Piece of cake! That guy won't know what hit him!"

"Glad to know you're feeling ready," the leader said in return.

"What about me?" the last man said, feeling left out. All there was left was the heavyset male holding more ninja stars than a normal human can actually handle. He had a tan headband tied around his forehead, a black bandana tied around his wrist, and an anxious look in his eye. The classic sword-and-shield leader couldn't have ignored his please.

"You're coming with me, Smoke! We're gonna take this guy down together! What's your last Dream Link?"

* * *

**Username: Silentsmoke**

**Species Hybrid: Shedinja**

**Speciality: Ninja Arts**

* * *

Silentsmoke smirked, "Wonder Guard."

That answer was very appealing to the leading man of this desert crew, "Not bad. How long does it last?"

"Two Minutes," Smoke answered. The other three players stared at their cocky leader and their ninja friend, confused. They were all thinking the exact sake thing, but knowing the two other kids, it was only Uzzie who actually spoke out.

"Uh… Everblade, is that really enough time to try and beat this guy? Two Minutes is a pretty short time to try and kill anyone, let alone someone like him."

* * *

**Username: Everblade**

**Species Hybrid: Gallade**

**Speciality: Swordsmen**

* * *

Everblade, their leader, reflected the burning sunlight of his silver blade, bouncing off sunlight to show it in all of its glory. "That's all the time we'll need. Ready?"

"_**READY**_!"

"Okay, break!" Like a team of football players, the Desert Raiders turned back to their opponent, feeling more confident than ever. The hooded figure took the scythe from the ground and swirled it around in circular motions, until the weapon stood firmly placed behind him. A calm wind blew through the hot desert, burning through

"Man, it's about time. I'm sort of in a hurry, so if I can destroy you guys any quicker, then that would be great! Plus…." He padded and fanned his black hood, letting cool air into his face. The Desert Raiders' adversary wiped a shoot of sweat excrete towards the hot sand, which evaporated on contact. "It's really hot out here!"

Everblade rallied his troops one last time, "ALL RIGHT, LET'S REMIND THIS ASSHOLE WHO WE ARE ONE LAST TIME. WHO ARE WE?!"

"WE'RE THE DESERT RAIDERS!"

"AND WHAT DOES THE DESERT RAIDERS DO FOR A LIVING?!"

**"WE BURY SCRUBS**!" Everyone got their weapons ready and aimed them all at the cocky scythe wielder. The hooded man finally swung his scythe in a full one hundred and eighty degree half circle.

"That's cool, you guys have your own little catchphrase." He cracked his neck and began to fully mess around his elbows. When he finished, the hooded man directed the black edge of his scythe towards the others, "Alright, let's get this over with. I don't have all day."

Everblade checked upon his teammates to confirm their will to battle. They all nodded in return. Everblade's point of his sword lit up like the desert sun. Two opponents stared each other deep within each other's eyes with intent to kill, but also with curiosity and mutual respect. The hooded man smirked. Everblade smirked back.

**"ALL RIGHT, LET'S START DIGGING! CHARGE**!" One command finally made things excitable once more as the five figures belonging to the Desert Raiders charged all at once.

"Come and get me…" the hooded man mumbled. He tapped the hilt. Suddenly, the black steel of the scythe began to glow a bloody red. He swung the weapon once more, allowing it to grow nearly twice its original size.

Everblade looked beside him to the little girl, "Maven, now!"

The petite girl struggled to get herself recuperated. "O-o-okay!" She fumbled over taking out the Conductor's Stick, but managed to do so in her current running speed. MavenWendy stared hard at the small jewel attached to her thing of a weapon. She nearly tripped on nothing but pulled off her next words, "D-D-Dream L-Link… **Drizzle**!"

Rain began to drop down over the desert, replacing the once hot sun. The opponent laughed, "Rain? Is that all? It definitely solved my sweating problem, but it definitely hasn't solved your losing problem."

"That's what you think. You're the one that's about to lose," Uzzieshot said. She kept the chamber of her machine guns aimed directly at the scythe-wielder. With a slight press, a barrage of lead bullets came flying at him. He held his scythe and began encircling the weapon around in front of him. Little by little, each of her bullets deflected from each other.

"Still not good enough," the hooded man said. Without any forewarning or notice, the hooded man saw a large torrent of water coming directly for his face. The scythe-wielder couldn't do anything about it, being directly shoved backwards by the Hydro Cannon.

"It worked! Good going, Oasis! Maven, go ahead and use it!"

Sand kicked up from the ground below as the black hood struggled to keep his balance, only saving himself by digging his scythe unto the dunes. "Stupid, cheap modules! I swear that'll be the last big hit you land on me!"

Perfectly timed afterwards, the guy started to get quietly but quickly bombarded by tiny knives of precipitation. He stared upwards, only to see that a certain Castform hybrid controlling the rain stabbings using her Conductor's Stick. Maven waved the stick around, commanding the weather like a fully fledged orchestra. Her movements not missing a single beat. The rush of multiple strikes hitting at once at different areas of his body at once proved to be just enough to subdue him, even for a little bit.

"Keep it up! Alright Uzzie, you're up! Use Flash!" Everblade led.

Uzzie nodded and plucked a grenade from the belt of her combat skirt. "Alright, Mr. Big Shot, let's you take this!" Uzzieshot yanked the pin from the grenade using absolutely nothing but her bare teeth. The Ariados then lobbed it upwards, arching the reaches of the raining clouds, inching just close enough in the range of her opponent.

Everything stopped for the young man wearing the hoodie. I need to get out of this funk and fast! As just then, a small grenade scooted close to his left leg. The man's eyes widened in fear and surprise. "OH SHI-"

White. All he could see was a heavy white and nothing else. He still felt the effects of the rain punching him like needles, but he didn't see any other attacks. This is what being blinded probably felt like. He had always hated the move Flash. He grunted, "Dammit. These guys just got good all of a sudden. Guess they're forcing my hand." The shoulder bulges underneath his jacket swayed up and down in a quick motion. "Oh well."

Everblade cheered, "All right! Nice going! Ready, Smoke? We're gonna take this guy down together."

"Ready when you are!" Smoke answered.

The Gallade hybrid turned behind his back and gave a thumbs up to all his teammates. They all smiled in response. "Now, hit him with all of your best attacks! On my mark…." The leader had his pale hand raised. He squinted at the distance. The light started to clear itself. "Get set…"

Flash worn off. All Everblade could sight was their hooded opponent. Poor guy couldn't even stand up straight after that last attack. Everblade snickered and shot his hand towards the man, "NOW!"

"Hydro Cannon!" Oasis shot a stream of water.

"Weather Ball!" MavenWendy said as she conjured up a projectile imbued with the force of a storm.

"Explosion!" A large rocket propelled bullet with enough force to level a city shot out of Uzzieshot's machine guns.

"Smoke, let's go finish this!"

"Right! Dream Link… **Wonder Guard!**" Smoke literally became covered in a thick fog that was near impenetrable. Everblade started to run with his Shedinja partner across the field of the ever expanding desert, ready to finish this man for good and finally bury this cocky punk. It all seemed to go so well for the Desert Raiders. Until…

The hooded man's grin filled the arena they were fighting in. In what would be seen as a fireworks display, everything blew up around him. There was a flurry of lighting, bomb fire, and water, all mixing together like a soup built for both natural and manmade destruction. Every seemed to appear so beautiful. All there was left from the explosion was a large puff of unforgiving white smoke.

Everblade's jaw dropped. "That went better than expected…"

Maven's eyes enlarged with pristine delight, "D-d-did we win?"

Uzzie shot a couple rounds in the air, victoriously, "HELL YEAH! WE WON! THAT'S THE DESERT RAIDERS FOR YOU! WU-WOO! YEAH!"

Oasis stuttered, "W-w-we actually did it."

Smoke raised a suspicious eyebrow, "Something isn't right… don't mean to be the party pooper or anything, but shouldn't we get a notification that we won the battle?" That good point also made everyone curious towards their situation. Smoke gazed back at the explosion the other three had caused under Everblade's leadership. "I thought so. We should all be on our to-"

The poor Shedinja couldn't even get his last words out. Everyone that was still alive appeared mortified. Smoke had been cleaved completely in half by a pinpointed Dark-type attack, presumably Night Slash. Silentsmoke fell on the desert dune, his body completely in half. Their teammates looked upon in horror at their friend's state.

_**Silentsmoke (DEAD)**_

**"Wonder Guard**_: A Dream Link that allows the user to become immune to most attacks, but is killed instantly by any connected attack. Looks like my Night Slash connected properly,"_ the hooded opponent explained.

Everglade gritted his teeth, "You bastard! What sort of person cheapshots someone like that?!" The smoke finally cleared and the murderer stood strongly in his cozy little crater that the others made.

"For starters, you completely skimmed over whether or not I had a Protect or Detect module, which I did. Two, this is a nine versus one, so I had every right to. And three, it's his fault for looking away." Smoke's killer flipped around his scythe and readied it once more.

"You asshole, I can't wait to kill you!" Uzzie proclaimed.

"A disrespectful punk like you has nothing. I'm going to enjoy slaughtering you," Everblade said.

"Oh, will you now? Then I'm going to show you guys a little something-something. Tell me what you think." The hooded opponent lifted his vile scythe from the ground and smiled. "DREAM LINK… **DARK AURA**!"

It activated, enacting a transformation. The hooded figure envelops himself in a dark aura, flowing through his veins and being like crimson blood. The sky grew black, the rain itself stopped falling in fear. The Desert Raiders' opponent's eyes flashed a painful and bloodthirsty violet-red. His scythe even saw it's transformation too. The red highlights on the black scythe evolved into a deep royal purple. The scythe itself grew even larger than before, now scaling at twice its original size.

"I think you guys know who you're dealing with now, right?" He arrogantly questioned.

* * *

**Username: Kyrino**

**Species Hybrid: Absol**

**Speciality: Dark Energy**

* * *

When it all ended, Kyrino's changes stayed, yet those specific Dark Aura changes suited him well. He smiled again, only this time he had neat matching fangs. "My name's Kyrino. And I'm about bury some Desert Raiders! Starting with you!"

The Absol hybrid pointed his pointed at the face of none other than MavenWendy. Everblade noticed the man's next target and stammered. "Maven, watch out!"

Maven didn't have any time to react to the situation. Kyrino popped in front of her and ran through her with his scythe, decapitating her in an instant. Her head plopped on the desert sand. Maven didn't spew a bunch of blood from having her head cut off, instead her hollow body fell on the ground.

_**MavenWendy (DEAD)**_

"Goddammit! Whatever you do, GET AWAY!" Everblade urged. Kyrino wasn't having any of it. He made a full dash towards Oasis, stopping just before he could reach him. Oasis nervously stepped backwards, scared out his little mind. He tried to shoot another Hydro Cannon.

Kyrino had zero problems deflecting the shot of water away from his body. Oasis shook, "Oh no. Ohnoohnoohnoohnoohno. Not good. Everblade?" Kyrino sighed and impaled Oasis at his chest. He yanked the scythe from his tired body, staring at the Golduck hybrid, disappointedly. Oasis casually fell to the ground, unmoving.

_**Oasis (DEAD)**_

"Shit. Shit. Shit. I'm gonna fill your ass with so many bullets, now!" Uzzie aimed her machine guns at the monster and shot ferociously. Each time she shot, she took a step backwards.

"Uzzie, get away! Wait for it to wear out!"

"Screw that! I'm ending this, now!" Uzzieshot's bullets in her chamber glowed a blinding white color, expressing her intent to kill. "EXPLOSION!" Uzzieshot released the ammunition from her chamber and they exploded upon impact on Kyrino's body. She panted and wiped spit from her lips, "Stupid dick."

"Hi, how are you?" Kyrino greeted from behind her back. Uzzieshot barely turned around. The Dark Energy specialist yielded his dastardly blade against the blunt on her back. Unfortunately for her, she launched in the air like a baseball to a professional batter.

"**DAMMMMIIIIIIITTTTT**!" Uzzieshot screamed as she flew helplessly in the air, disappearing like a star in the sky.

_**Uzzieshot (DEAD)**_

Kyrino's demonic violet-red eyes smiled at his last opponent. He held his scythe behind the comforts of his clothed back. "Leader's the last one standing. How poetic. Just know that this is what you get for messing with me!"

"Shut you mouth. I can handle you alone!" Everblade said.

"How can you, when you're already dead?"

"Hold up, what?" Everblade didn't see his opponent miraculously appear behind him. One swing of his scythe. One swing. That was all it took to destroy a man. One single swing of a scythe. Kyrino now stood feet away from Everblade's paralyzed body. Kyrino smiled underneath his demonic teeth and underneath his alluring and haunting presence.

"Like I said, you're already dead," Kyrino stuck his tongue out.

Everblade did not say another word, instead his body slid down in half from the cut on his waist and his legs below. The knight dropped dead straight on the sand, not a single expression on his face than sheer terror. It was like Kyrino siphoned his very essence. His very soul. His very being. Kyrino swung his scythe around his body and finished by sliding his weapon on his backside. His Dark Aura shifted back to normal, transforming him to the hooded vigilante he once was before he activated his Dream Link.

**_Everblade (DEAD)_**

**Kyrino Wins!**

A red notification notice appeared before Kyrino in a holographic form. On it had all of his stats from the last battle:

* * *

**You gained 827 EXP!**

**Kyrino LEVELS UP to Level 54!**

**Please check your Level Up Report for gifts and stat information.**

* * *

Kyrino fist pumped the air, _"Hell yeah! Level Up!"_

* * *

**{KelvinX}: DAMN SON! GET WREKT! #BodiedByOneGuy**

**{Liz}: That took an unexpected turn.**

**{Miko-san}: You can say that the Desert Raiders….**

**{Miko-san}: Just got buried.**

**{Universal Answer}: YYEEEEEAAAAAHHH!**

**{Uzzieshot}: That was absolute bulls***! That Dream Link is OP!**

**{MavenWendy}: Did we do good at least?**

**{Silentsmoke}: I told you all to keep on your toes.**

**{KelvinX}: Says the guy that got shreked because he didn't do exactly that.**

**{Universal Answer}: Tell that to Oasis. Boy was a deer in the headlights.**

**{Uzzieshot}: LOL! TRUU!**

**{Liz}: That is very rude, you two. He sure as hell lasted longer than you, Universal.**

**{KelvinX}: Yo! Look at Liz preaching the truth up in here. #Pastor #Blessed**

**{Oasis}: I'm sorry. I should have been more on my toes.**

**{MavenWendy}: I think you did good.**

**{Silentsmoke}: Don't sugarcoat his performance.**

**{Uzzieshot}: Smoke, who died and made you leader?**

**{Silentsmoke}: No one.**

**{Uzzieshot}: Then shut the hell up!**

**{Everblade}: Who is that guy?**

**{Liz}: Excuse me?**

**{Everblade}: I mean Kyrino. Who is he?**

**{Uzzieshot}: Low key op af.**

**{KelvinX}: *Passes Uzzieshot some fries for her salt.**

**{Liz}: No idea.**

**{Everblade}: Universal?**

**{Universal Answer}: Nuh-uh.**

**{Oasis}: I think I know him…**

**{MavenWendy}: Really?**

**{KelvinX}: OUT WITH IT MAN.**

**{Oasis}: I heard rumors of an Absol hybrid that had a Dark Aura Dream Link. Apparently he calls himself...**

**{Oasis}:_ The Grim Reaper._**

* * *

_Welcome one and all to the most engaging piece of hardware that allows player interaction through combat! This is where players are challenged on multiple fronts over their interaction and communication skills, combat prowess, and more importantly, their imagination in the field of many others._

_You will embark on a journey beyond your dreams, taking the presence of the avatar you create in order to form new and growing bonds throughout the world. As a Pokémon Hybrid, you will experience what it is like to battle as our ancestors did so long ago._

_As a player within the confinements of your image, not only are you fully engrossed in your player, but you can also see the hardworking and imaginative avatars that other players have come up with too. Given both weapons of your design and abilities from the Pokémon of old, this not only makes this the best battling experience on the market as far as Pokémon is concerned, but the best battling experience ever conceived in gaming!_

_Devon Studios have been hard at work to create the best experience possible since the end of the era of real life trainers and Pokémon._

_Link up in a world beyond your wildest dreams, where your only limit is your imagination_.

_**Welcome to Dream Link Online!**_

* * *

**DJTiki**_** Presents...**_

**Dream Link Online**

* * *

**Slash's Footnote:**

**This was a fanfiction that I had on the backburner for a while! Whether I choose to make this an story with priority is completely up to how I'm feeling. But I just really wanted to get this out the way before I forget my idea! This is an SYOC and I am referring to the rules to a teeth this time. Make sure to read the profile and SYOC rules BEFORE submission! If I see that you hadn't read, I will reject the OC on the spot. Other than that, let's see where this goes. With that said, I'm out!**


	3. Episode 1: Nothing Changes (Part 1)

_**A/N:** Ello! I really liked where this was going in terms of feedback, so I decided to make the first part already! These are seperated by Episodes, not chapters. Each Episode has two parts before it ends (unless something happens which makes it longer or shorter, warranting fewer or more parts). What you are looking at now is the first part of the first episode! Remember to leave feedback and all that stuff in the reviews! With all of that said, **ENJOY! :)**_

**_Real Life = First Person Perspective_**

**_Dream Link Online = Third Person Persepective_**

* * *

**New Game**

Continue

Delete Save File

* * *

The world has changed a lot over the past given a few hundred or so years. I stopped counting a long time ago, so forgive me if my facts start to sound like fiction. Someone made a decision and it cost our coexistence with Pokémon. That's what I was taught as I kid. That's what my teachers were taught as a kid. That's what my teacher's teachers were taught as kids. Apparently, life wasn't bland at all. But all I can see now is mediocrity and blandness sheltered over the industrialized city of Petalburg. Funny, apparently this was simply a small town where everyone didn't live in skyscraping apartment buildings, but rather lived in cozy, little cabins with a tiny fireplace for good measure. I like that sort of style.

_Yet… nothing changes_.

I sometimes wonder lying in bed, what the hell have I really been doing with my life?

I live in a world where trainers don't exist. Where I don't go on a journey that I can only hope to experience in game. Where I don't get to battle eight, awesome boss battles to unlock the final five boss rush. Where I don't get to kick the ass of any criminal organization trying to screw us and our world up. Where I get to truly experience the most immersive game of all time.

Devon Corp. tries to make this out like it's the new age of technological advancement in the "Post-Pokémon World", as they try to market it. And I can agree with them on one thing. We** DO** live in a new age…

_An age of boredom_.

My alarm clock yells in my ear that I need to man up and wake up already, but I've been restless this entire morning. I don't need to slump over on my side and check the alarm clock. It's 6:30 A.M. That's what I set it to. That's what it will always be set too. I will never change it. I really want to change it but too many things are on the line if I set it differently.

_Yet… nothing changes_.

I live alone in a decently cheap housing that doesn't look decently cheap. My job is the only way that I can make money, so if I lose that, by extension, I lose my house. If I lose my house, I'll become homeless. And have you seen a hobo fight?

No thank you, I'll settle with my routine life. I have to be a top-tier MMA fighter for that to work out well.

Yawning without a shirt, I got up from the right side of the bed and stretched out my life's purpose, which didn't extend that far, unfortunately. I scratched my back a couple times, soothing my own self-satisfaction so quickly and so vigorously, that back scratching could be my own personal fetish. I smacked my lips as I dragged my soulless body to my bathroom.

A stare at the mirror screen provided for every single bathroom in this prison of an apartment building. I see myself in all my "glory". Tiny blackheads scatter across my otherwise silky sourdough skin. At least my acne matched my black spiky hair which parted over my left eye, leaving my right green eye relatively untouched. Sometimes, when I feel around my face while I splash myself with water, I wonder if I style my face in a way that matches my avatar.

_Yet… nothing changes_.

I'm still the same me I was yesterday. I'm still the same me I was yesterday. I'm still the same me I was yesterday. Nothing changes. Nothing ever changes. I am only a spectator on life's pleasures and punishments. I am only a spectator on life's pleasures and punishments. _Nothing changes. Nothing ever changes._

_Nothing ever and will never change_. And that is the sad fact of reality.

* * *

**Episode 1: Nothing Changes**

* * *

After scrubbing my teeth and brutally murdering the grime from last night's dinner, I stepped back into my room and planted chest first on my cozy mattress. I should probably put some clothes on. That's how it always worked. I nabbed the alarm clock and examined it. It was only 6:35. I have to be to work by seven. Or nine, I forget sometimes. There was no time to be lazily lying in bed, hoping my workplace drowned in a fire and I didn't have to go. Either that or call in sick.

But I need the hours to pay some overdue bills, so I got up from the bed and made an evil stare at my own dresser. He didn't do anything wrong, but I'll he damned if I actually had to wear clothes today. Maybe I simply wasn't making any sort of sense. My hand reluctantly wrapped its tired palm around it's handle. Insert some sex joke that I had on my mind, then I slid it open. Were my work clothes crumbled on the top of my clothes pile like a retarded snowball?

I ended up staring at some old shirt that I didn't wear since middle school. So that was a definite no. I threw it over to my nonexistent _"I Don't Give A Damn"_ pile and hoped for the best. My lazy butt decided to get off from the mattress and squint inside the opening of my drawer. I saw my designated work clothes underneath a mountain of my other crap and yanked it out, giving zero disregard to my other horrifically dirty clothes.

Ahh… here it was: A medium, navy blue collared shirt with two black buttons sitting right near the top. Where the left chest plate of my body would've been clothed spelled out in white, incursive words, "Devon Corp." Opposite of the trademark had a small name stitchings with a card inside it. Of course, I'm not actually excited. In fact, I groaned at the sight of the name card inside the plastic stitchings.

"_Kyle_"

I didn't need to be reminded what my real life name was, but apparently my ass is so invisible to the public that we need convenient name tags to alleviate the masses of their guilt whenever they have no idea who or what I am. They will have that bewildered look on their face, "Thanks… um…" then they take a look at my name tag and say with a fake smile, "Kyle". Then I will be forced to say "Thank You" and act like I care.

Despite my personal issues, I slipped on the shirt anyway because that is what society demands of me. Oh well…

_***KNOCK KNOCK***_ That's different. Since when did people actually visit me? I rushed to the door. Who could it be? A check for my hard work paid off? Or maybe a package? My cheeks scrambled with blood and colored a distinct pink. What if it was girl that was asking me out? Probably setting myself up to fail, but I don't give a damn, something chose me and I was ready for anything.

My hand excitedly reached for the doorknob. It twisted and turned over an axis. I could hear the hatches on the bottom lock come undone. Slowly I eased the door open and put on my best smile I could fathom. Then I actually opened the entrance...

"Yello! Didn't expect to see me here, huh, Mr. Grim Reaper?!" I could feel my hopes and dreams crash down like a dysfunctional airplane. There she stood… completely and utterly short. I still find it more troubling that she was about my age and graduated. Like always, she had brown hair that extended to the top of her shoulders, although barely. Her eyes were a striking ocean blue and her outfit was simple, yet professional: a short, white dress and black, high top wedges which falsely improved her height.

Was she trying to impress me or something?

I sighed, "Hey, Nicole. Why are you here?"

* * *

"Don't you remember what I said yesterday, loser?" Nicole asked.

I didn't really recall much from yesterday. For some reason or another, that day felt the same as any other average day. I rubbed beneath my chin, thinking over my events leading up to now. And now that Nicole mentioned something about it, I think I actually DO remember something from yesterday.

* * *

_**Yesterday... **_

Kyrino fist pumped the air, _"Hell yeah! Level Up! _Now, let's see what I got as my prize!"

The Grim Reaper stared around the empty desert and scratched his hair just a tad. I think I may have over did it a bit. Before he checked his own stat information and Level Up Prizes, Kyrino decided to examine his scythe. More specifically, the victor made a quick checkup on the back of his silver handle. Three jewels lit up like the hot, blazing sun. Yet, one remained darkened from the battle. He didn't question the occurrence.

He tapped on the black jewel, initiating a red notification to flash in his face. Kyrino silently read the contents of the Dream Link report:

* * *

**Dream Link: Dark Aura** _**(Currently Inactive)**_

_ You're body becomes subjected to an Aura of pure dark energy. All standard base stats are increased by 30%. All Dark-type Module attacks increases its damage by 50%. Effects last for 3 Minutes_.

**-**_ Your body becomes worn out once the effects of the Dream Link declines. For 2 Minutes, all standard base stats are decreased by 30%. All Dark-type Module attacks becomes temporarily inactive until the initial nerf cooldown reaches 1 minute_.

**Cooldown Timer: 47:56:27**

* * *

He knew the effects of using something like Dark Aura. Kyrino just hated it, yet he still used it. Just staring at the Dream Link summary angered him for a bit. He swiped the summary away, promptly closing it. "Stupid Desert Raiders. Now I have to wait another two days to use this Dream Link again," he mumbled. Without permission, a notification bar appeared and rung as annoyingly as his alarm clock.

"You received a chat invite! You received a chat invite! You received a chat invite!" the notification repeated over and over and over again, making Kyrino wish he could put a couple bullets in his ear. He pressed the notification bar like a convenient button. The ringing stopped and Kyrino proceeded to read its contents, seeing if this was just some dumbass troll yearning to taunt him into a battle:

* * *

_**You have been invited to a chat invite!**_

**Members: JadeStrike (Chat Head), Blazefang, Stellar Starlight**

**Would you like to join the chat?**

**Yes**

**No**

* * *

_I should've seen that one coming. Been out here dealing with these guys so long that I forgot that I was in a hurry. Might as well tell them what's been going on._ Kyrino had a slow reaction getting to the touch board, but his finger motioned over to the chat notification. He sighed and made a tiny little tap on the screen.

* * *

_**You have been invited to a chat invite!**_

**Members: JadeStrike (Chat Head), Blazefang, Stellar Starlight**

**Would you like to join the chat?**

**((Yes))**

**No**

* * *

_**….. Loading Chat Room …..**_

* * *

**{Blazefang}: HEY A*******! WHERE THE HELL YOU'VE BEEN?!**

**{Stellar Starlight}: It's not nice to leave your friends hanging like that. :(**

**{JadeStrike}: Yeah, what those guys said. Where the f*** you've been, bruh?**

**{Kyrino}: Sorry, sorta got held up. XD**

**{Stellar Starlight}: You're so cute when you lie! c:**

**{Kyrino}: I am not cute -_-**

**{Stellar Starlight}: Oh, come on! You're cute because you're such a horrible liar! ^_^**

**{Blazefang}: I don't know… dating/boning death sounds very depressing. You would know, won't you Jade? :p**

**{Kyrino}: No. You're just jealous that I'm the Grim Reaper.**

**{JadeStrike}: Oh, you know we were totally a thing for a while way back in middle school?**

**{Stellar Starlight}: Really?! Kyrino, how come you never told us?!**

**{Blazefang}: That's new news for me. I was just making a joke. So how'd it go? ;)**

**{Kyrino}: It was middle school. As in, it didn't count.**

**{JadeStrike}: It totally did. But I can tell you all this. It IS very depressing.**

**{Blazefang}: I knew it!**

**{Kyrino}: Did not count. Refused. Rejected. Denied. And are you implying that we had sex in middle school?**

**{Stellar Starlight}: Aww, the first step of moving on from a relationship is acceptance. You're in the denial phase, still.**

**{JadeStrike}: He was such a sweet guy. And then I broke his heart because he took my cookie off my lunch tray.**

**{JadeStrike}: Kyle cried for three days. And to this day… that was the sweetest cookie I ever ate. XD**

**{Kyrino}: And to this day… Nicole is still a cold-hearted b****! Not even video games can make your ass taller!**

**{Blazefang}: DAMN! NOT BAD KYLE-KUN! Nice and sauced. Nice and delicious.**

**{JadeStrike}: Ouch. Hurt. That struck home. My feelings are hurt. Damn. I'm going to die. Thanks, Kyrino. #whycantwebefriends #kyrinoisntgoodinbed #kyrinohatesme**

**{Stellar Starlight}: Shut up, Jason! You hurt Nicole's feelings. ^_^**

**{JadeStrike}: Shut up, Miranda! My feelings aren't actually hurt. :p**

**{Blazefang}: Shut up, Nicole! Nobody likes you!**

**{Kyrino}: Shut up, Jason! Now you've been told to shut up twice, now. Nice and double killed. Got any rebuttals? #NoMercy**

**{JadeStrike}: Damn, Blaze. You just got destroyed. ANYWAYS, why aren't you here, you a******?**

**{Kyrino}: I was WONDERING when we'd get back on topic. ANYWAYS, I got held up.**

**{Blazefang}: By….**

**{Kyrino}: The Desert Raiders. All nine of them challenged me.**

**{Stellar Starlight}: Why didn't you call us to help? We're pretty good in battle, too. We would've helped. /.\**

**{Blazefang}: Man, you're such a try hard. I hope you're ass lost.**

**{Kyrino}: I won.**

**{JadeStrike}: Dark Aura?**

**{Kyrino}: Yep.**

**{Stellar Starlight}: HAHA! Now you can't use it for two days! :p**

**{Kyrino}: Shaddup.**

**{JadeStrike}: Kyrino. There's actually something I need to talk to you about. It's very important.**

**{Blazefang}: Please keep relationship questions via PM, please.**

**{JadeStrike}: Shut up, Blaze. I'm the chat head! Feel my godly powers!**

_**JadeStrike kicked Blazefang from the chat room.**_

**{Stellar Starlight}: Do you guys need some alone time? :)**

**{JadeStrike}: Uh… yeah. Do you mind if you.. you know...**

**{Stellar Starlight}: KK!**

_**Stellar Starlight left the chat room.**_

**{Kyrino}: So what is that you want to talk to me about? I really hope it isn't a date.**

**{JadeStrike}: Nononononono. I recently applied for a job at Devon Corp. You work there right?**

**{Kyrino}: Uh… yeah. More or less. So you applied for a job at Hoenn? You live in Unova, how the hell is that gonna work?**

**{JadeStrike}: I'm moving.**

**{JadeStrike}: There were some apartments open at Scenic Homes in Petalburg. That's where you live, right?**

**{Kyrino}: Yep! Apartment 6J**

**{JadeStrike}: Cool. Cool. Cool. Well, I didn't tell the others but I've been doing the moving for about a couple weeks now. So I'll be there in time for my interview tomorrow. You think I can come crash at your place and hitch a ride to Devon Corp. early morning before 9:00?**

**{Kyrino}: Yeah sure, fine with me. My shift starts at 9 anyways. When will you be there?**

**{JadeStrike}: Around 6:40ish. Be awake by then, k?**

**{Kyrino}: That's pretty early. Alright. I'll see you tomorrow, then, Nicole.**

**{JadeStrike}: Thanks! Just hurry up and get back to Everline, slowpoke! :/ See ya in a bit, Mr. Grim Reaper.**

_**JadeStrike left the chat room.**_

_**Kyrino left the chat room.**_

_**Chat Room terminated.**_

* * *

"Oh yeah, you live here, now," I said, smacking myself in the forehead. "I'm like half awake, right now. Try not to make a huge racket." Nicole took her first steps inside my apartment. Well, she didn't really take her steps onto any carpet, but the designated tiled area where you are given the chance of removing your shoes. I checked up and down at Nicole's person, "You mind taking off your shoes for me?"

"Oh, yeah. Sorry." Nicole kicked off her footwear and placed them neatly beside a wall. I could tell that she was at least somewhat interested in my house, when I found her examining all over the place with her eyes fascinated. "Pretty snazzy place you got here! Not even bad!" Nicole placed one bare foot on my clean, white carpet, followed by her other one. She ended up snickering, "By the way, you're not wearing pants."

My eyes narrowed down at my pants. Or lack thereof. All I had on my body was my black boxers and my work shirt. I had been flashing my crotch at my house guest. I didn't have to think to cover the…..ummm…. bulge showing from my boxers. How embarrassing. "Thanks," I said sarcastically. I made it obvious that I tried to ease away from the situation. Nicole simply laughed it up and planted her dress on the living room couch. Her bare arms folded behind her head and she smiled. I knew that she'd get too comfortable.

"I'm just glad you're happy to see me," she laughed.

Puns. Quips. Jokes. Nicole definitely didn't leave those at home, unfortunately. Now I'm going to be the butt of all of her inappropriate jokes. "Don't worry, Kyle, I'll just chill until you find some pants. You hungry by any chance?" Nicole asked. That was an odd question. Even for Nicole.

I couldn't help but stammer as my hand reached for my bedroom door, "U-u-uh… why do you wanna know? I didn't get breakfast just yet."

"Cool! What do you have? I'll whip something up," she suggested.

"You're not my wife or anything. Hell, we aren't even in a relationship. You don't have to." Nicole acting like this always bugged the everliving hell out of me. For some reason or another, she acted like an evil witch and then could turn into a good witch in seconds. Unlike me, Nicole didn't opt for staying seated and observing life pass by on their racehorses. And that will forever annoy me. Or maybe I'm just jealous she really isn't my wife.

I just gave up on insisting otherwise. When she has her mind on something, it's difficult to change it, "Fine. Do whatever, just don't burn the whole place down. There's some bacon in there that I never felt like cooking. You mind fixing that?"

"You mean you can't cook it," Nicole insulted.

I creaked the door open. "Yeah. I can't cook worth shit. But I'm pretty handy with a microwave. Cooking stuff is on the cabinets beneath the sink. Oil and spices are on the cabinets above the stove and dishes are to the left cabinets from sink. I'm gonna go find my pants now."

"You go do that!" Her shouts made it obvious that she wasn't staring in my general direction. Good. At least she wasn't staring at me in all my quarter-nude glory. I slammed the door behind and took a breather. House guests are weird. I never had one in a while, but they sure are high maintenance. Perhaps Nicole was just being extremely chill because I was driving her to her interview. That's probably it.

I heard some pots and pans go clang, bash, and crash, then my face smiled and my person began to get all jumpy like a spring. You know that feeling as a kid when you heard some pots banging over a stove when you woke up in the morning? The excitement that your parents were cooking hot breakfast? I'm twenty-two and I haven't felt this way since that one time I had won one of those plastic, cereal toys. It felt awesome.

I gazed over to my alarm clock. **6:43 A.M.** Two hours and seventeen minutes until my first shift. "YO KYLE!"

"Yeah, wassup!" I shouted from inside my bedroom.

"I can't reach the oil. I'm short, remember?" That conclusion made me laugh. She was too short to reach anything besides the stove and cooking crap. I think Nicole heard me. "Stop laughing and help me, loser!"

"Just use a chair something! That should help!" I shouted at her.

"K'!"

It wasn't that hard to find my pants. I had a system for everything. As disorganized as I was, everything has its place and every place has its thing. I'd only lose myself if I organized it. My eyeballs scanned the work pants like a cyborg to see if they were really the ones I was searching for. Confirming my doubts, my brain instructs my muscles to slip it on. I covered my boxers and zipped up my fly. If there was anything I had been trying not to do was walk into a bunch of Nicole's jokes. And the whole "Your fly is down" joke is a classic. I'm avoiding the embarrassment like the bubonic plague.

I looked at my clock.** 6:45 A.M.**

For the first time this morning, I was fully dressed and ready to tackle the test of the day. I organized my shit into neat little piles that looked kinda clean, kinda not. Then, I went to see what my old friend was up to. After all, I could smell the oil being cooked from in my room.

And that is what exactly happened. Nicole stood over the burning stove, flipping around bacon on one pan. On another eye, Nicole was firing up some scrambled eggs. Finally, she had herself a half-pot filled with slowly cooking grits. Having someone cook for you was incredible. Especially when you don't have to do it yourself.

"You know what, Nicole?" I asked both my online and real-life friend.

"Yo," she asked.

"I'm sorta glad that we're neighbors now. Even if you live on a completely different floor and apartment room. I'm happy that I won't always be bored out of my mind," I told. I stared about to the kitchen. It was very hard to see, but Nicole had a huge, blushed grin across her face.

"Me too, Kyrino. Me too. By the way, the eggs and bacon are practically done-zo. We just have to wait on the grits. Probably won't start eating until 7 or so," Nicole explained, taking a spatula and lifting the hot, sizzling bacon from the pan, gently slapping the pork skins on a placeholder plate, as I like to call it. She ended up doing the same with eggs.

"I'm fine with it," I said. I found a spot on my couch and sat on it. My spot was the cushion nearest to the window. My grass green eyes couldn't help but check.

**Petalburg City**: A city once renowned for its cozy home feeling to the serenity you felt from taking strolls in its hospitality-filled air supply. Now look at it. The place isn't even recognizable now. Skyscrapers and factories. Roads and Cars. No clean air, just smoke. It was the middle of the morning yet it appeared like it was a rainy afternoon with the black and dark clouds overhead. Why? What did they do to this once, great city. Where did we fall off? Where were the Pokémon? Buried beneath cement or forced into hideaway by our cruel, industrial expansion? Whose idea was this?

Maybe I'm just a nostalgia freak. Hell, I wasn't around when it did look good. Someone made a decision and it cost our coexistence with Pokémon. That's what I was taught as I kid. That's what my teachers were taught as a kid. That's what my teacher's teachers were taught as kids. Who? Who made the choice?

_Nothing changes in our helpless world_.

Only life happens. But nothing that will shape our futures. **_Nothing_**. Nothing whatsoever.

I noticed that Nicole was temporarily resting her head on the dining table. Even if you're friend meets up with you in real life, nothing changes. I stared at the window for a while…

_Thinking..._

_Plotting…_

_Thinking some more…_

_And staring…_

_And thinking..._

_And contemplating…_

I must've been spaced out for a while because when I aimed my gaze back at the dining table to see what was going on with Nicole, she had miraculously held a fixed plate of breakfast, all with a glass of good'ol OJ. Her blue eyes stared harshly into mine. After a moment of no blinking and my eyes tearing up, she sighed, "Come eat!"

My arms yawned and cracked the tired shell that I had enveloped over myself. I was finally beginning to get my land legs and my full awareness. I sat down at my dining table and watered at the mouth when my nostrils detected Nicole's cooking. "Thanks, Nicole!" I began to chow down at my plate. You wouldn't believe how hungry I was. And boy did the slop of bacon, eggs, and grits filled my little tummy with delight. My hand wrapped around my respective glass of orange juice and the liquid slid down and… wait…

Across from the table, Nicole was eagerly staring my down with her hands folded like she was a proper kid in grade school. Weird. "Uh… do you need something?"

"Well… how is it?" Nicole anxiously awaited. That's when I realized she had been referring to the plate of food that I indulged myself in. Nicole hadn't even touched a morsel on her plate. I guess this what cooks lived for: the satisfaction of their customers. I swallowed the food I had in my mouth and carefully set the glass down on the table.

"It's good," I said.

Nicole frowned, "What's good about it?"

I wasn't no chef. I couldn't pinpoint each and every perk and flaw of each dish and give an explicit, detailed, informed explanation on it. But I tried, "Well... for starters, everything blends well together."

"Yeah?…" Nicole veered closer.

"And… the eggs are seasoned well. Plus, the grits are not too hard and not top mushy. I like that. And the bacon is pretty crispy, too."

"Crispy in a good way or a burnt way?" Nicole wanted me to specify.

"Uh… good way," I specified.

"_PHEW_!" Nicole leaned away from my face and leant back against her chair. "I didn't think I did all that well, so thanks for being honest. You were being honest, right?"

"It is a bit greasy," I stated. Maybe I shouldn't have said that.

Nicole slapped and punched her fists about her forehead, "DAMMIT! I knew I used a bit too much oil. You don't have to eat the rest to make me happy."

"Nonono. It's good. I like it," I consoled, picking up my utensil and stabbing another piece of succulent bacon. I tried to continue with my sentence, but my stuffed mouth made that rather difficult. "It's fine. Swear. I haven't had cooking made by someone else in a while. Thanks." My ears registered my voice just fine even with my mouth full, but all my house guest heard was jumbled mumbling. I could tell because Nicole was laughing.

"Didn't your mom teach you not to eat with your mouth full?" she joked.

"Shaddup. Aren't you going to eat too?"

Nicole got up from the dining room table and stretched out her arms, then proceeded to scratch her white backside. She started to walk away from me and to my living room couches, staring heavily out the window. "Nah. I ate before I got here. Consider this my thanks for letting me crash and give me a ride."

"Yeah… no problem. Anything for an old friend, right?" I huffed down the rest of my food and drink at a quicker race. A large burp escaped my throat and made a large noise out my lips. "You got the time by any chance?"

Nicole checked her phone, **"6:57."**

I did the math in my head. "We still have an hour and thirty-three minutes before we need to leave. Wanna hop on DLO?" Nicole was flustered when she heard that.

"I still need to set up my CPU after my interview. How are we gonna get on?" Nicole quered.

"I have two VR headsets. I'll let you borrow mine and I'll use my spare. That's cool?"

Nicole nodded in return. It wasn't long before we were both in my bedroom, breaking the official record of how many girls came in my bedroom in a day. Yah, me! I extended my reach towards the keyboard and mouse, clicking the handy little icon which symbolized the online game we frequently went on. The launch window for DLO was still rudimentary at best, but it was excusable.

* * *

**How many players?**

**Two.**

* * *

**_Loading…. Loading…._ **

**Please do not unplug VR headsets at this time. Failure to comply may lead to data corruption on both the software and hardware.**

* * *

After the game started to load, it displayed that usual notice. That notice that I enjoyed fondly**.**

* * *

**You may now connect to the game. Please equip your respective VR headset and connect to the program using the connection phrase**.

* * *

I slipped on my headset. Silver, rounded goggles which wrapped around my face and forehead. It had a hard exterior and a comfortable feel on the inside. Almost like a pillow. You could almost feel the electromagnetic waves pulse through your neurons like a river of information. Nicole and I are laying on my bed, situated side-by-side from each other. She was wearing the same thing, except it appeared more authentic. And by that I mean that she had my chrome one.

I liked that one more. She's my house guest and she cooked for me. Allowing her to use my expensive… good looking…. awesomely designed piece of hardware was the least of my worries.

"Hey, Kyle?" Nicole called from beside me.

"Yo."

She snickered to herself, amused, "Will this be the first time you slept with a girl?" Goddammit, Jade.

I rolled my eyes in a rather unamused fashion, "Can you please just say the thing and get logged on?"

"Let's say it at the same time. You know, like how people in T.V. shows and anime do it all dramatic and shit. That'd be cool." That was odd request, but then again, crashing at some guy's house and proceeding to hitch a ride from them and make them breakfast is already weird as it is.

"Yeah, sure. So do we do on three or something?" I asked.

"Yep. One… Two… _Three_!" Nicole started and finished the countdown. Our mouths quivered, then they burst into a synchronized phrase used to log on to the most popular game in the world.

"_Dream Link..._ **CONNECT**!"

_Then my world went completely **blank.**_

* * *

_A world without change_.

That was the world where everyone lived in. A world where nothing happened. A world where your life was simply a spectator on life's pleasures and punishments. You may have good things happen to you and unexpected occurrences, but you will continually watch as the world fails to evolve at the rapid pace that you do.

_Nothing changes._

But something exhilarating ran through Kyrino's chest as he warped inside the game. He felt that he was flying through cyberspace itself. A multitude of colors raced below his naked, blank, mannequin of an avatar. The body twisted and flew straight up like a rocket. And then his cold feet made touchdown in a dark room.

Kyrino smiled. He always smiled. A dark bronze notification took up the space between Kyrino and a wall. The man knew what was coming.

* * *

**Username:**

**Password:**

* * *

He cracked his knuckles and the back of his hand and typed away at the holographic keyboard. When he finished, the Grim Reaper made a few steps back from the notification, more ready than anything.

* * *

**Username: _Kyrino_**

**Password: ********

* * *

The naked avatar started to wear clothes. First, he was given a skin tone of a soft olive. Afterwards, his eyes rolled over from being completely lack of any soul or personality to a hard red. His nails shifted from more of human to more of an Absol, making his nails completely grey. His hair remained as a moderately spiky look, but it wasn't black, but now white.

Kyrino was finally given his clothes. A mid-sized black hoodie with white highlights throughout. His pants were simply grey jeans and his shoes were simply black converses.

Then the icing on the cake appeared, his weapon. His trusty little scythe named Sephtis. A black scythe with blood red marking around it. The hilt was a comfortably calm silver. Kyrino now had everything he needed.

The floor beneath him began to cave away. It was finally time to get things started.

_And then he dropped..._

A fall from a few thousand feet seemed scary at first glance, but then you realize that the moderators, game design gurus, and the specialists wouldn't want you to die. So for now, you fan out your body like a snow angel and enjoy the ride.

Kyrino had always had difficulty enjoying the drop.

"AHHHHHHH! I THOUGHT I TOLD THAT THING TO LOG ME ON AT THE GROUND!" Kyrino screamed at the top of his lungs. He stared to his left and found another short body in the distance making the drop as well. This person he knew. But it wasn't Nicole.

She had long, flowing, cotton candy hair. Her neck was wrapped by pearl white ribbons running through the dropping wind. Kyrino recognized her almost immediately. _No mistaking it._

**"STARLIGHT, HELP**!" Kyrino begged. The girl falling with him turned to her immediate right and saw the discomposed Absol hybrid. Her large, buggy blue eyes with no pupils smiled at him.

* * *

**Username: Stellar Starlight**

**Species Hybrid: Sylveon**

**Speciality: Pure Energy**

* * *

"Isn't this fun, Kyrino?" she enjoyed.

"DOES IT LOOK LIKE I'M HAVING FUN?!" Kyrino panicked. **"WHEN DOES THIS STOP?!"**

She laughed, "Don't worry, scaredycat, this will end once we hit the ground. Aren't you supposed to be at work?!"

"NOT FOR ANOTHER HOUR AND A HALF!" The Grim Reaper thought it over for a brief second about what Stellar Starlight just mouthed to him. His heart sank, "WHAT DO YOU MEAN BY 'HIT THE GROUND'?!"

His Sylveon friend just giggled and giggled. _This is not funny! What's so funny about dying?_ When Starlight finished giggling, she directed Kyrino below them. They were both hurdling at towards the pavement at top speed. All there was now was the quick and swift punch of death.

Kyrino braced himself for impact. He heard Stellar Starlight laughing at him from across the air space.

Then everything just… stopped all of a sudden.

Kyrino opened his eyes, only to find that he was merely floating in midair. The tip of his nose barely touched the bricked walkways of the city. He caught himself hyperventilating. _Never again am I doing this drop._ A barrier around them broke and the Absol fell flat on his face, while Stellar Starlight managed to land on her two feet.

"Uhhh.… I hate falling. _F***_ this stupid drop. And_ f***_ Everline for always being in censored mode," Kyrino cursed. He moved his eyes back up. There were two bodies. On the left was a girl bearing a mid-sized, slightly armored, baby blue and white crop top. The body on her left also bore a white and pink combat skirt with a chrome rapier attached to it.

The body to his right of him had a heavier and light armored, jade tank top with black jeans. Instead of bare arms, this girl wore cold, hard steel gauntlets that ran up her entire sleeve. There were vicious claws at the end baring a deadly gold.

Stellar Starlight reached out her hand and held on to Kyrino's, only to yank him soon afterwards. He grazed against her bare stomach and a bit of her crop top before getting back on his own feet. "I thought felines always landed on their feet," Starlight joked.

"And you do realize that Everline is an open space, so they censored it for the poor kids who shouldn't hear it, right?" the short girl with the gauntlets stated.

He frowned, "Thanks, Captain Obvious."

The short girl smiled with her jade eyes and shrugged.

* * *

**Username: JadeStrike**

**Species Hybrid: Metagross**

**Speciality: Iron Gauntlets**

* * *

"That's why I'm here, amirite?" Jade poked fun at. _You're just here to be annoying. Why did I let you come over?_ JadeStrike punched Kyrino on his right wrist, "Lighten up, Kyle. You only have to deal with me for an hour and a half!"

"You live in at Scenic, now. I have a feeling that I'm gonna have to deal with you for a long time coming…" Kyrino complained.

Starlight confusedly mumbled to herself and kept looking back and forth between Kyrino and JadeStrike. "Are you two roommates, now?"

He nodded his head, "No. We're not. In real life, she's laying in my bed, wasting brain waves on my good VR headset!"

Jade's eyes burned with scorn and she started to yell at the Absol, "You were the one who insisted that I wear yours! Don't give me that bull****!"

Kyrino argued back to her, "I thought you were going to be all like…" he coughed up some mucus and tried his hand at a high pitched voice, "No, Kyle, you don't have to do that for me!"

"Too bad! I'm wearing it! Is this how you treat someone who cooked for you?!" she screamed even louder.

"You're cooking was s***!" Kyrino topped.

"Uh.. guys, stop fighting please, we're making a scene," Starlight pleaded with her sad puppy eyes. It was true though, they were making a scene with all the other players stationed on the Everline part of the server.

"YOU LIKED IT! YOU ATE IT ALL UP!"

"THAT'S ONLY BECAUSE I WAS BEING NICE!"

"**EMO, DEPRESSING LOOKING ASS SKELETON!"**

**"YOU SHORT, WANNABE COOL, COLD HEARTED B*-"**

**Kyrino was muted for one minute(s) by Jirachi (Super Moderator).**

**JadeStrike was muted for one minute(s) by Jirachi (Super Moderator).**

Now all there is between the two friends were nothing but moving mouths. Nothing but air came out of it. Stellar Starlight gave herself a large breath of relief. "Phew, you two sure know how to argue. You're both so cute, but we don't want a bunch of attention, right?"

"Right," someone said. A female levitated over to the two muted players.

* * *

**Username: Jirachi (Super Moderator)**

**Species Hybrid: Jirachi**

**Speciality: Wishing and Moderation**

* * *

"Sorry, guys, but I muted you because we don't condone arguments in a public and censored HUB like Everline. Please settle all disputes via PMs, Grudge Matches, or in real life," Jirachi warned before floating away on her own business.

Stellar Starlight, being the only one who could talk for the minute, wrapped her bare arms around the necks of Jade and Kyrino. Her smile brought an aura of calmness between the three players, "Come on, we're all friends here. You two knew each other the longest. So let's focus on having fun. Let's not be negative by bringing in our real life selves, K? You should both apologize to each other."

They couldn't talk, but Starlight could tell that they were reaching some form of mutual understanding. The Metagross and Absol shrugged and turned towards each other. Kyrino nervously smiled. Jade nervously held on to one of her arms. Stellar Starlight motioned her hands about, hurrying them along, "What are you waiting for?"

_Probably for the mute to lift,_ Kyrino thought.

**The mute on Kyrino was lifted!**

**The mute on JadeStrike was lifted!**

"Sorry I called you an emo. I know you hate it when I do. Plus, your avatar is pretty banging," Jade apologized

"Sorry I called you short and that you're cooking suck. The breakfast was actually was good," Kyrino returned quickly.

"Now, hug…" Starlight commanded.

JadeStrike nodded her head, "I can admit I'm sorry, but I am not hugging Kyrino."

Stellar Starlight detached her rapier from her skirt and threatened them with an eery and intimidatingly happy-go-lucky grin,** "HUG, YOU MAGGOTS!"**

JadeStrike's eyes popped, "Fine. Fine. I'll do it!" Her and Kyrino both blushed at each other, like two siblings who were forced my their overbearing parents to hug. They reluctantly enveloped their arms around each other for about a second before letting each other go.

Kyrino gave the evil stare to the Sylveon, "Happy, Starlight?"

She nodded, "Yeppity, yep yep! You guys only have an hour and a half so let's go do something! Anything! We'll just have to leave Blazefang behind if he's online."

"I'm game. You feel the same way, Kyrino?" Jade asked him.

He huffed, pulling the scythe from behind his back and held it close above his shoulder plates, "What sort of question is that?! Of course I'm game!"

Stellar Starlight leaped in the air with joy, "**YEAH! LET'S GO**!"

* * *

_**Meanwhile...**_

"U-u-u-uh, are you sure this is a good idea?" said the Golduck boy. He was fidgeting behind an alleyway in Everline.

"The odds are stacked in our favor, Oasis. We got our help and we got me!" a blondie with highlights as cold as ice bragged.

Oasis, obviously scared, tried his best to get out this situation, "I don't know, Kelvin… Everblade said we shouldn't. Plus… he has company with him."

* * *

**Username: KelvinX**

**Species Hybrid: Mamoswine**

**Speciality: Ice**

* * *

"Don't worry about him, I have a plan. We're gonna trap them and ambush them at the forest. He thinks he's so cool because he beat the Desert Raiders and has two c**** riding of his d***! I'll show him who he messed with!" KelvinX promised, all the while getting censored.

"We need to send them a challenge, right?" Oasis said.

"Not if they're not in a HUB, we don't!" KelvinX states. "Plus, we can't lose, not while our backs are covered, ain't that right?"

A purple feline laughed and played around with her claws. "Why, of course, we will. If they only have an hour and a half, let's stall him until he misses work. If he loses his job, so what. As long as we both get paid for what we do."

* * *

**Username: Kitty Kat**

**Species Hybrid: Liepard**

**Speciality: Trapper**

* * *

"KK, you'll get paid. We just need to held redeem the Desert Raider's name. Got it?" Kelvin maliciously grinned.

"As long as I get paid, you'll see to it that the Grim Reaper and his friends wished they never messed with you!"

_**To be continued...**_

* * *

**Slash's Footnote:**

**Yello! Welcome to my footnote, where I usually have something to say, but don't at the current moment. I sorta feel bad for leaving the first part off on a cliffhanger, but I kinda don't. So.. what do you think thus far? This was a 7k chapter, so it was very long compared to what I usually put out. See you next part! I'm out for now!**

**_Review Replies_:**

**Vulkadlak: Those were the effects I was going for, thanks for noticing! Also, thank you for the cool review! It makes me a very happy slashtiki! :)**

**Hydrogon: YOU'RE BACK! Thanks for the complements. I don't think I write battles better than the next writer, so it means alot to me that you think that.**

**Cottonmouth25: Can I hitch a ride on your Rapidash? I might burn to death, though... nvm.**

**StylishDecent and ZorialWater: You and me both. I started to hate SAO around the beginning of the second part of the 2nd season. I personally enjoyed GGO. So you don't have to worry about OP sues.**

**Ckbrothers: Here's a tip. Go on my blog via my profile. Find a page called "All About Slashtiki...". Proceed to fill out the form on the contact sheet provided. It'll get sent to my e-mail! :) THAT GOES FOR ALL GUEST BY THE WAY, IF YOU WANT TO SUMBIT!**

**Lectro Underground: I'm pretty excited about this story, too. Thanks for the kind words!**

**Emrysthemay: Yes to your first question. Yes to the second question. I'll explain things as we move along in the story. Glad you enjoyed the story! That OP Dream Link won't be the answer to everything, I promise!**

**OPFan37: Why I do watch TOME! This was inspired by it :) Freaking love that show.**

**Gara316, Error 16 and The RazzBerry: I recieved your OC and is currently contemplating over their apperance in the story!**

**Key and Lock: Yes, it's unique! Points for originality. That means a ton to hear!**

**ShadeZyro: I patiently await for your OC! Don't take too long or you'll miss your chance!**


	4. Episode 1: Nothing Changes (Part 2)

_A/N: Ello! Missed me? Happy end of May! I've been working a long time on this. It's around the same length as the first part. Other than that, I've been outlying the structure of the story and so far, I'm feeling a 12 episode story, but that could change, who knows? Remember to review, follow, and favorite for more awesome publications. **ENJOY :)**_

* * *

New Game

**Continue**

Delete Save File

* * *

"That'll be 2080 Gold for two teleporter crystals, a Fire Blast module, and the Fur Coat Dream Link!" the cashier counted.

A player with long, tan hair which dropped behind his head nearly had himself a heart attack. His voice box stammered to find words, "E-E-Excuse me? What do you mean 2080 Gold?! Last time, this all would've been 1700! Are you trying to rip me off?!"

The dark-skinned cashier nodded, "Sorry, but the game's systems has its own economic programming. It takes into account-"

"Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It takes into account the supply, demand, competition comparisons, and all that stuff, then changes the prices of goods accordingly," the rude customer interrupted. He crossed his fur-ridden arms which covered like a red and black-striped jacket. The rest of his body had been covered in this jacket-like fur also.

The cashier narrowed her eyes and rolled them, "Well, sir, if you know that much, then why are you complaining? This is how our system works and this how's it always gonna work. How much do you have, Blazefang?"

* * *

**Username: Blazefang**

**Species Hybrid: Arcanine**

**Speciality: Wild Beast**

* * *

The Arcanine hybrid slams his palms on the desk, "Didn't I just tell you?! I only have 1700 Gold on me! Come on... hook me up with a deal!"

"Sorry, Blazefang! But you can take out the two teleporter crystals and still afford the module and Dream Link!" she suggested with a pleasing smile.

"What do you mean?! I need all of this stuff. What use would it be if I just took out the things I need?" Blazefang refuted.

The cashier sighed, "So you can afford it under your current budget." The cashier repossessed Blazefang's items and disappointedly facepalmed herself, "Sorry, Blazefang, if you refuse to pay for your items, then all I can suggest is for you to have a friend wire you the money or the items you need. If not, then you're simply out of luck."

Blazefang grunts like the Arcanine he is.

A small tap came from behind him, prompting the angry customer to turn his head around, "What? Don't you see I'm busy getting ripped off over here?!"

This man is at an average height with a slim body. He bears a red jumpsuit with lightning streaks running down through his limbs, giving off an electrifying blue aura. His hair's bright blue, but is fairly messy. His eyes are practically white, with bright blue circles near the edge of his eyes.

* * *

**Username: Flaw_InThePlan**

**Species Hybrid: Rotom**

**Speciality: Versatility**

* * *

"You're holding up the line, man," he states.

"Excuse me, but your s*** can wait. Besides, this…" Blazefang growled at the cashier, "This…. character… is trying to make me pay more than what I actually need to pay!"

"But those are the prices and those are the rules! I'm sorry, but you cannot purchase all of the material!"

Flaw crossed his arms, "Did you even follow the stats that we get every week?"

"What stats? Am I missing something, here?" Blazefang asked, genuinely confused. Flaw_InThePlan tapped seemingly nothing and an electric-blue hologram menu appeared. His fingers ran through the menu, scrolling past all of the options until he reached a certain sub menu called "Economic Reports". Two bings and a small loading screen later and the Rotom hybrid was right where he wanted to be.

He flipped the hologram menu towards Blazefang. The Arcanine squinted his eyes and read the contents:

* * *

**Economy Report:**

**Year 3, Week 18**

**NEWS BULLETIN: The overall value of Gold has recently decreased by 20% due to the increased amount of Gold circulating between the world's markets, the increased amount of spending, and the increased amount of money drops from monsters and bosses. To accommodate, all markets will increase their prices by 22%. Please refer to the prices down below for average market prices. Remember that this will only effect markets directly ran by the game's algorithm, not merchants or Sole Proprietorships ran by actual players. Please understand that Dream Link Online (DLO) runs on a self-sufficient program which can change the algorithms in the systems for an infinite amount of gameplay possibilities. These changes are normal and will resolve itself in the future.**

**Please Choose a HUB for pricing information:**

**Everline**

**Pastorion**

**Valcan**

**Waveyrn**

**Xanax**

* * *

Blazefang mumbled, "So it's the game's fault for inflating the prices? This is bull****!"

Flaw_InThePlan folded his hand, closing the notification. "There are other people who need to checkout, so pay for your stuff or move aside, you're just wasting everyones' time."

"And what you gonna do if I don't move, huh?" Blazefang challenged.

"Can we please not?" Flaw said, "I'm only here to buy my stuff and leave. If you want to fight then we can hold a match after I'm done."

"Oh, I get it! It's because you're scared aren't you?" Blazefang retaliated. "Come on! Me and you, right now!"

Flaw_InThePlan scratched the side of his jumpsuit, "So... no matter what I say, you're not going to move until I battle you?"

"YOU BET I WON'T!"

* * *

Stellar Starlight nodded with joy, "Yeppity, yep yep! You guys only have an hour and a half so let's go do something! Anything! We'll just have to leave Blazefang behind if he's online."

"I'm game. You feel the same way, Kyrino?" Jade asked him.

He huffed, pulling the scythe from behind his back and held it close above his shoulder plates, "What sort of question is that?! Of course I'm game!"

Stellar Starlight leaped in the air with joy, "YEAH! LET'S GO!"

"**AHHHHHHHHHH**!" a scream of agony cried. The three players stopped and looked around the premises for the sign of the screamer. They had an expression of bewilderment on their face.

"Uh… what the hell was that?" Kyrino asked himself.

"I swear, these little girls are always screamin' for their mommy! It's too early in the morning for this s***!" Jade grumbled under her breath.

Stellar Starlight directed Kyrino and JadeStrike to the skies above, "I don't think that's a little girl…."

"**AHHHHHHHHHH**!" a body screamed as it came hurdling down to the everlinian pavement. This body instantly recognizable by the likes of the three of them. _Oh great, what did he do this time_, Kyrino thought to himself.

*_THUMP_* An Arcanine hybrid crashed on the ground and slid his body across the flooring, with his initial inertia halting him in front of the Sylveon, Absol, and Metagross hybrids. The three of them sighed in unison and in disappointment, already piecing together that Blazefang screwed up.

"What did you do this time?" Kyrino interrogated.

"You're an idiot, Blaze. Who'd you piss of this time?" JadeStrike asked with her arms cross.

"Let me guess, you got blacklisted from the market, again…" Stellar Starlight predicted. Blazefang dragged his feeble body from the concrete and rubbed the top of his tan hair. His face had been punched in and riddled with dirt and grime.

"Let me tell you guys what just happened because that seriously pissed me off!" Blazefang declared. Nobody said a word, there were simply anticipating what he had to say. The Arcanine cracked the back of his injured neck back into place and began, "Alright, so I was out on the market right and I was buying some stuff. I'm having a pretty good time until I get to the cashier and-"

"The prices went up," JadeStrike finished.

Blazefang squinted his vision at Jade, "Let me finish. That isn't it. So, the prices went up and of course, being the innocent customer I am, I couldn't afford it. Is that really my fault?"

"Yes, it's exactly your fault," Kyrino answered.

"That was a rhetorical question. Let me finish. So I'm having a simple discussion with the cashier about how the prices were bull**** and-"

"Someone behind you wanted to actually purchase their stuff?" Stellar Starlight savagely spoke in a flighty and sarcastic demeanor.

"You guys are the worst. I'm not **THAT** predictable," Blazefang argued. "Besides, I'm the best player out of us four!"

"Yeah, right! You suck!" JadeStrike chortled obnoxiously.

Blazefang crossed his arms and grinned, "After what happened last week, I bet you know a whole lot about sucking. And I'm not talking about DLO, either!"

*_WHACK_* Before Blazefang could even detect, JadeStrike popped the Arcanine across the face with her meaty gauntlets, shooting him a few feet in the air before crashing helplessly down before Kyrino. The Arcanine hybrid eased himself off the ground and grinded his teeth wildly.

Blazefang's eyes narrowed and converted into a wild, bloody-red. The claws attached to his nails grew twice in size. The Arcanine's fur became more rough and beastly, all the while his aura radiated a dangerous black. Blazefang even had a coarse and lower tone of voice to back it up, "You wanna fight?! I can kill you right now!"

JadeStrike returned intimidation when her gauntlets began to rotate like gears, creaking an eery metal sound, "Oh please, you couldn't beat me even with a type advantage! You're just an idiotic who doesn't know his ass from his left. I didn't think I'd see the day when Devon Studios allowed 5-year olds to play!"

"OH, YOU'VE DONE IT, NOW!" the Arcanine hybrid screeched. Blazefang bent down on all fours. "YOU STUPID M************ B*****, I'M GONNA KILL YOU!" After growling and snorting for a couple more times, he bounced into the air towards JadeStrike with a murderous intent in his eyes.

**Blazefang was muted for three minute(s) by Jirachi (Super Moderator).**

**Blazefang's avatar was frozen for three minute(s) by Jirachi (Super Moderator).**

And now the angry beast stays motionless in midair, not even able to talk. The Absol hybrid tapped the still Arcanine hybrid like a museum statue. He giggled a bit, "Well, that's one way to shut him up."

"I hate it when he's like this," Starlight pouted. Her blue, anime eyes fixated themselves on JadeStrike, the Metagross hybrid, "Why'd ya tick him off like that?!"

"The only thing I ever suck is candy," she clarified.

That didn't make things sound any better, Kyrino thought dirty. The trio stared at the body staying suspended in midair. "So… do we just leave him there?"

"Let's go do something fun, already!" Starlight whined.

"No... we have to wait for Blazefang to thaw out…" Kyrino said.

JadeStrike caused a tippity-tap-tap with her feet, checking for the nonexistent time on her wrist. She impatiently twitched an eyelid, "Any minute now… Any minute now…"

* * *

_Fun; that's one thing guaranteed when playing Dream Link Online. Kyrino, Stellar Starlight, and JadeStrike knew this and did everything they could in order to achieve it, at any time. An immersive experience that will always change. Where nothing becomes too formulaic. A world that evolves at the same pace as you._

* * *

"You got 200 Gold, Starlight?" JadeStrike reached out the palm of her hand and squeezed it into a fist.

"That's like your seventh try. Are you sure you're confident that you can do this?" Stellar Starlight asked, a nervous smile planted across the Sylveon's face.

"Come on, it's just 200 more Gold. I got it this time!" JadeStrike promised.

"So, you ready to go another round, missy?" the man behind the counter checked in. He's a grown man with a plush, pink face and five o'clock shadow. His everything, from his gaze to his face to his accent, is unbearably creepy.

* * *

**Name: Mimic The Clown**

**Species: Mr. Mime**

**Speciality: Carny**

* * *

"Hell, yeah! Eighth time's the charm, don't ya know?!" JadeStrike snatched 200 Gold from Starlight's palm and slapped them on the desk. "Hand dat dart over, I'm feeling lucky!"

Mimic tossed out a dart for her to use, "Now, be careful. Don't want your mommy knowing that you spent all of her money on a carny game."

"I… am… twenty-two years old. I'm….. an… _adult_," JadeStrike hissed. She readied her first dart. The balloon seemed far and Jade's Gauntlets appeared top large, but as long as she concentrated, she could clear this minigame.

Mimic slapped himself on the forehead, "OH, I'M SO SORRY! It's rare that we have adult players who are so short!"

"Shut up!" JadeStrike threw the dart.

_And she missed._

"OH, sorry little miss, looks like you failed. Better luck next time," Mimic casually mocked, repeatedly tossing Starlight's Gold around in the palm of his hand.

JadeStrike's face plumped up, turned red, and grew absolutely furious._ Did I just get played by a stupid carny game?!_ **"YOU RIPPED ME OFF!"**

"What do you expect, I'm a carny. You can try again, you might actually win this time!"

The Metagross pumped her gauntlet, "Okay, you messed up excuse for a clown, you're-"

Her excitement drove her so much that she didn't notice Stellar Starlight dragging her body away from the stand. JadeStrike's eyes popped and she vigorously attempted to wiggle free from her grasp, "HEY, STARLIGHT, LEMME GO! I GOT IT THIS TIME, I SWEAR!"

Mimic waved his goodbyes, "It was pleasure doing business with you. Come again!" The Mr. Mime hybrid's vision narrowed a bit tighter, which he then mumbled, "Sucker…."

* * *

"_Holdupholdupholdup_, you're saying that you got JadeStrike in your apartment, right now? What the hell are you online for?" Blazefang interrogated, holding a cup of virtual coffee. "If I were you, I'd make my move."

"Whatever, I don't really care. I'm not a pig like you," Kyrino specified.

"**HEY!"** Blazefang screeched. "It's true. I'm not as nice as you."

"BUT, she has been extremely nice to me so far," Kyrino reminisced.

"How so?" Blazefang anticipated.

"She cooked breakfast for me…"

I shouldn't have said that. Kyrino's own thinking had been correct, though. Blazefang retailed by leaping from his chair with his eyes widened and a disappointed jaw drop. "WHAT?! ARE YOU STUPID?!"

"Stupid in how?"

The Arcanine shoved his hand all over his forehead and face. "Kyle… kyle… kyle…."

"What?"

Blazefang leaped in the air and crashed his foot on the table like he was a man standing on top a soap box, "You're telling me that she cooked for you, talked with you, is living in the same building as you, and SLEEPING WITH YOU?! DON'T YOU SEE THE SIGNS?! THE STARS ARE ALIGNING YOU DINGUS! THIS IS A ONCE IN A LIFETIME OPPORTUNITY!"

_Yep; definitely shouldn't have told him anything_.

"Hey, can you keep it down? There are other players who doesn't want to hear your loud ass mouth every waking second of every day," asked an annoyed player.

There wasn't much fat or curve to her, she's mostly lean muscle. The girl's skin is a pale shade of grey splattered with freckles across her face, shoulders, and back. Her eyes are large and grey, ringed with darker grey skin.

Her head hair is a mass of wiry white curls, cut in a messy, chin length bob. Any facial features that shown were very rounded and young looking. She bears a dark grey half vest over a white short sleeved shirt and pale grey cargo pants that end at the tops of her calves. Finally, she has a dark grey beanie with attached panda ears.

"What? You want to fight, kid? I can do whatever the hell I want!" Blazefang challenged.

* * *

**Username: averytinyragemachine**

**Species Hybrid: Pancham**

**Speciality: Close Combat**

* * *

"No, piss off. Just shut up or get out of my face, you piece of human s***" the Pancham clarified. Kyrino drunk a tiny sip of his tea and said nothing as the argument unfolded.

"Who you calling a piece of s***, you demented dwarf?!" Blazefang yells.

"Man, I didn't know we were still using height jokes in the 29th Century! I bet you're some greasy old loser who lives in his mom's basement," Avery blurted out.

"I bet you still live in at your parent's place," Blazefang guessed.

"Yeah, because I'm still in high school, you perverted d***. I don't go around guessing how old every player is," averytinyragemachine exclaimed.

"At least I can provide for myself, n00b tryhard!" the Arcanine bragged.

**"F*** YOU!"**

**"F*** YOU!"**

**averytinyragemachine was muted for three minute(s) by Jirachi (Super Moderator).**

**Blazefang was muted for five minute(s) by Jirachi (Super Moderator).**

Kyrino lightly placed his teacup down on the table, "Man, you sure know how to run your mouth. I guess you didn't remember that repeat offenses lands you more time."

The Grim Reaper belched and took a stand from the table, "I'm gonna go meet up with the others. See you when you aren't muted! Bye!"

* * *

**7:54 A.M.**

_We're losing time. We only have thirty-six minutes left_. Kyrino slid his holographic menu away from him. _Where the hell is Jade and Starlight?_

"Hey, Kyrino! There you are!" called a familiar voice. JadeStrike came rushing over to his side, forcing Stellar Starlight along with her. "Man, we've been looking all over for your ass." JadeStrike gave a conscious stare to the area surrounding the Absol hybrid. Something was out of place, "Where's Blaze? Did he log out?"

"I ditched him. It's too early in the morning to be dealing with him," Kyrino generally states.

"Aw, I don't think Blazefang's that bad…" Stellar Starlight pouted, "What did he say to make you want to ditch him?"

_DON'T YOU SEE THE SIGNS?! THE STARS ARE ALIGNING, YOU DINGUS! THIS IS A ONCE IN A LIFETIME OPPORTUNITY,_ Kyrino remembered.

The Absol peered directly below himself to gaze into JadeStrike's sparkling, teal eyes. He felt himself sweating to actually ask that of her._ Maybe it wasn't completely out of sheer kindness. Maybe she actually... likes me._

"Hey, Nicole? I have a question," Kyrino said, holding the back of his neck.

"Yeah, what is it?" JadeStrike answered. Kyrino had to ask her if it was actually true. However, a shock of realization pelted Kyrino in his face.

_Come on, we're all friends here. You two knew each other the longest. So let's focus on having fun. Let's not be negative by bringing in our real life selves, K?_

"We only have 30 or so minutes left, let's go to Everline Forest!" Kyrino requested.

"YEAH! I'M TOTALLY DOWN FOR THAT! COME ON, JADESTRIKE, LET'S GO!" Stellar Starlight enthusiastically crushed JadeStrike's arm and ran her towards the forest area of the game.

"WAIT! LET ME GO!" JadeStrike cried as she was forcefully tugged along by the Sylveon.

"COME ON, KYRINO! WE ONLY HAVE A HALF-HOUR!"

Kyrino shrugged with a small hint of a smile. _That's Starlight for you._

* * *

**Everline Forest**

This is what you would call your "obligatory forest level". There isn't much to it, but it was pretty to look at. Sure, you had your trees and your bushes and your grasses and your waters, but this was by far the area Kyrino was least interested in. In fact, he probably would've never as much as stepped foot in here if it wasn't a good grinding spot. He could've picked any other spot, but Kyrino wanted an excuse to avoid an awkward conversation.

"Starlight, can you pull up the time?" Kyrino requested.

Starlight gladly waved her hand across the empty air, creating a pink and blue notification out of thin air. Her head titled and her buggy got a tad bit bigger, "Uh… 6:10. But this is Johto time."

"I live in Hoenn. So it's 8:10."

"We only have 20 minutes before we need to leave," JadeStrike counted.

"HELP ME!" shouted a young player. All three of them immediately grew on edge. Kyrino's scythe shot up in it's size; Stellar Starlight retracted her rapier; JadeStrike's gauntlets warmed up and began shifting like gears. "SOMEBODY, I'M TRAPPED!"

Next came a gurgle from a monster. Kyrino recognized it immediately.

"Venus Pokétrap Monster?" Kyrino suggested. The other two nodded in agreement. "Alright, this is easy experience. Call dibs!" The Absol rushed off across the forest in search for monster, leaving the others behind to mallow.

The Metagross realized what just happened and fumed up in anger, "**WAIT! YOU CAN'T CALL DIBS!** Wait up!" JadeStrike hurried behind him with Stellar Starlight quick on her tail.

"HELP, I can't move!" A girl shouted with her legs and chest wrapped around by tentacle-like vines. Gurgles of spit and green acid oozed from the Venus Pokétrap mouth and drizzled all over the trapped player's body.

Kyrino is the first to arrive. He immediately unlatched Sephtis from his back and hallmarked the extended reach it received. "Don't worry, I got you! Just stay completely still!"

"Kinda hard when you're being swung around like a ragdoll!"

The Absol aimed at the stem of the plant and swung. A horizontal slice cut completely through the grotesque stem of the monstrous plant, spilling an ooze of fake, green goo of blood. Without its support, the Venus Pokétrap gurgled up and fell to the ground, dead. Soon afterward, the entire monster disappeared in multiple digits and bright lights, like glass being shattered.

**Kyrino gains 120 EXP!**

Kyrino reached out to the dirty girl, "You okay?"

She's a tall, skinny, and pale individual. Her shoes are black with red 'claws', and her hands are covered by gloves with much the same pattern. Along each arm is a blade.

The dirty girl wears a loosefitting purple shirt covered by a lightweight black jacket. Her eyes are fierce, yellow and dragonlike and her hair is long and white that curls over her collarbone. Atop her head she wears black and yellow headphones.

This woman beared a cold gaze as she wiped herself off, "Emidras."

"What?" Kyrino confusingly appeared.

"My staff. You're stepping on it," she clarified. Kyrino looked down and found that he was, in fact, stepping on a long staff of oak with an amber-colored gem embedded in the top.

"Oh, sorry." Kyrino moved his foot aside. The girl grabbed Emidras and yawned.

"Thanks. I could've taken care of that monster myself but his ooze made me drop my staff. The help's appreciated," she explains.

"No problem... um... what's your name?"

* * *

**Username: GaleStream2000**

**Species: Noivern**

**Speciality: Elemental Wind**

* * *

"Username's GaleStream2000, but you can call me GaleStream," she introduced.

"Well, GaleStream. That was a higher level monster," Kyrino proclaimed. _Odd because those are only found in the denser parts of this forest. DLO isn't without surprises, is it?_

"I know, that's why I fought it. I'm going to leave now," GaleStream said, taking out a blue crystal. GaleStream gave the Absol a cheeky and devious smile, "See you on the flipside!"

The blue crystal shone and flashed, yet nothing happened. GaleStream stayed in place. "WHAT THE? How come that didn't work this time?"

"KYRINO! WAIT FOR US!" Stellar Starlight's voice is completely distinguishable from the rest. Kyrino found that the two other players he left behind finally managing to catch up to him. Then she realized that the monster had been defeated already, "COME ON! I wanted to kill it! You suck, Kyrino!"

"It wasn't really anything, just a Venus Pokétrap."

"Hold up, aren't those exclusive to the fifth floor of Everline forest or lower?" JadeStrike curiously wondered.

"Yeah… it is. There wasn't an event going on which allowed it, because we would've gotten a notification when we entered in the first place."

"So that means someone must've summoned it," Stellar Starlight deduced.

JadeStrike crossed her arms, "But who would do that?"

"That would be **me**, meow!"

The three of them turned around to a large oak tree. Perched on one of the branches was a player.

She had a bare curvy body. Her feline eyes pierced a violet-red with cute, cat ears to match. She had been wearing a purple formfitting suit with yellow spots. The suit highlighted a large bust and other womanly areas, too suggestive for young kids to view. Most of the feline's hair had been tied back into a large flowing ponytail. Her claws possessed sharp black nails that matched her black hoops. The claws were wrapped around by thin, white piano wire.

"Why don't you stay awhile, babe? Let's have a chat!" she attempted to seduce.

Kyrino nodded his head, "Sorry, but I gotta go in a little bit. We can talk later!" The Absol pulled up his menu and aimed down to the "Log Out" option. "Bye, everyone!"

He tapped the button, but nothing happened. "What the hell?"

**You cannot log out while you're being engaged by enemies.**

"Already tried, Kyrino. We can't leave. I thought defeating that plant thing would help, but it didn't," GaleStream explained. "I have no idea why we can't leave this forest. Shame, really."

JadeStrike shouted at the player, "Hey, you in the prostitution outfit! You mind explaining why we can't leave?!"

"The name's Kitty Kat, skanky. You know how much mana it takes to make a spawn? You can at least call me by my username. But… yes, I may have a part in why we can't leave. After all, it IS my Dream Link."

"Great, this is a Dream Link. Guess we have to kill you, then," Starlight proclaimed. Her rapier shined pink and gathered a multitude of energy from the skies and consolidated it into a ball of pure energy. "Moonblast!"

"Hydro Pump!" A torrent of water quickly shot and intercepted Starlight's Moonblast. Kyrino didn't even need to actually see who's behind this to know who exactly had been

"Oh.. you got to be kidding me..." he sighed

"What do you mean?" JadeStrike thought about.

"The Desert Raiders," he finished.

"Come on! You don't want a dramatic reveal? It's was tots gonna be cool, meow!" Kitty Kat exclaimed happily with a slight hint of disappointment. "Okay. Okay. Can't please everyone, can we, meow?! You boys can come out now!"

"**WOOHOO**!" another outcry came from the bushes. He's radiating a snow white aura in his fists. _Crap_!

"Everyone, get out the way!" Kyrino commanded

_***SLAM***_ KelvinX crushed the earth beneath them and forced the four players to dodge at the very last second. A pillar of ice propelled its trajectory upward, freezing the very surface he managed to crush.

"That was way too close. A physical attack and an AOE? This guy's been preparing for a preemptive strike. If that landed, I definitely would've been gone," GaleStream panted vigorously.

"You weren't lying?!" Starlight exclaimed. "I thought you made that up to cover your butt."

* * *

"Stupid, Kyle! He left me to rot," Blazefang stomped his feet across the HUB of Everline. "When he gets back, imma kill him! Imma kill him so hard. Matter of fact…"

Blazefang pulled out his window. "Let's see what those a****** are up to.

* * *

**Username: Kyrino**

**Species Hybrid: Absol**

**Speciality: Dark Energy**

**289/319 HP (90% Remaining)**

**170/200 MP (85% Remaining)**

**Level 54 (1,974,281 Experience Points)**

**387 W, 19 L, 4 T**

**Weapon Type: Scythe**

**Weapon Name: Sephtis**

**Dream Link(s): Dark Aura, Prankster, Magic Bounce**

**Current Location: Everline Forest 1F**

**Current Party Members: Blazefang, JadeStrike, Stellar Starlight**

**_*Currently In Battle*_**

* * *

"Currently in battle?" he wondered. "What time is it?"

**8:23.** Blazefang scratched his head, "He needs to go to work at 8:30. Kid only got 7 minutes left."

The Arcanine closed the menu and began running as fast as he could, "Don't worry, buddy. Blazefang's coming!"

* * *

**Everline Forest 1F**

"What's the matter, you guys? Cat's gotcha tongue? You're gonna pay for tarnishing the good name of the Desert Raiders!" KelvinX slowly brandished his fist in a curled ball and charged up. They became cloaked in more ice. "ICE PUNCH!"

KelvinX swung his fist, attempting to end Kyrino's life with a single punch. Kyle backed away barely, letting the frozen fist fly past the front of his face. A small smirk came from the corner of his eyes, "Oasis, now!"

"Okay! Hydro Pump!" Oasis shot a gusset of water at Kyrino, only this time he couldn't dodge it. Hydro Pump collided with the Absol's chest, crashing him into a helpless tree.

"Kyrino!" JadeStrike called out. "Pull yourself together!" Strings of piano wire wrapped themselves around Jade's gauntlets like a series persistent spiderwebs. "Hey, let me go, you stupid feline stripper!"

"I'm a Liepard, get it right!" Kitty Kat argued. With one tug, the Liepard completely yanked JadeStrike by her arms, pushing up the dirt through the forest, manifesting small tunnels.

"Don't worry, Jade, I'll save you!" Starlight rushed over and footstooled off the Metagross's hair, charging another strike with her rapier.

"Not this time!" Oasis charged up another Hydro Pump and unleashed its fury on the Sylveon. Being the air, Starlight had zero methods of evasion. She, too, took a direct hit from the attack.

"Ow…" Starlight rubbed her aching forehead.

JadeStrike hissed, "You're all wasting my time!" JadeStrike concentrated a large deal and cupped the wire which tied her. "Get out of my way!" Using all of her strength, JadeStrike carried the wire over her shoulders and lugged Kitty Kat and her weapon around like a steel chain.

_*SNIP*_ _Gotcha_! JadeStrike smirked before she unleashed the full might of her power and hurled the Liepard across the Everline forestry, freeing herself.

Kitty Kat managed to land herself on all fours. "Impressive! I might actually have fun with you rats!"

"We can't hold out for much longer," GaleStream confessed to his other party members, barricading them with a Reflect by holding her staff up in the air

"Of course we can!" Stellar Starlight confidently boasted.

"It's not that. It's around **8:26** right now. We can't keep fighting like this and beat them in four minutes. We have to leave and we can't log out," JadeStrike gritted her teeth. "We can beat them, but it'll take a good while."

_That was their plan, huh? Make it so we couldn't run away and then proceed to make us late._ Kyrino breathed a heavy sigh and crossed his arms._ Is there even a way out of this?_

Kyrino tried checking his menu, again. He tapped the "Log Out" button, yet nothing occurred. But he did see something that intrigued him…

"You finally see it, huh? You guys have work, but you can't work if you're online. The only way out of here is for me to kill you! But I don't think I want to kill you, just yet. I want to make sure that you two are late. We can stay here all day if we have to," KelvinX manically bantered.

"You're a poppy face, you know that?!" Stellar Starlight pointed fingers. "You can't get people fired because you lost to them! You're a sore loser."

"Besides, you forgot one more thing, too," Kyrino lead on.

"And what might that be, meow?" Kitty Kat giggled.

**_"HELLO!_**"

"What the…" Kelvin eased his entire neck around and immediately swallowed his spit. An Arcanine rushed full force at the Mamoswine, crushing, burning, and absolutely murdering every last plant in his way. "Oh no..."

*_SLICE_* KelvinX felt around his stomach, dazed. There's a large, fiery cut where some of his chest use to be. The Arcanine sliced completely through the Mamoswine, leaving him with no hit points. Blazefang smirked,_ "And goodbye!"_

"You gotta be kidding me…." The Mamoswine hybrid struck on the dirt, having one fatal gash struck through his body.

_**KelvinX (DEAD)**_

"Shit. There goes my pay," Kitty Kat cursed. "Well, see you next time losers, I'm out!" The Liepard attempted to make her daring escape, leaping on the nearest tree branch to use that as a stepping stone to leave.

"You're not getting off that easily," GaleStream irritatingly halted. Kitty Kat turned her entire, formfitting body around at the Elemental Wind specialist.

"Sorry, honey, but what's a staff to me? I would love to see you try," Kitty Kat challenged.

GaleStream2000 shrugged, "Fine, your funeral." She waved Emidras around in a circular motion. The wind in the air got caught in the staff's power, becoming deadlier and faster at each and every waking second. Not too long, Emidras conjured up and attack so fierce that real-life storms can fall prey to it. She aimed her oak staff at Kitty Kat. "**HURRICANE**!"

A pinpointed storm aimed at a frail Liepard is more than enough to take it out.

"AHHHHHH, MEOW!" Kitty Kat fell prey as the Hurricane ripped her absolutely apart. From her inappropriate clothes to her smug smile, everything about Kitty Kat was destroyed in an instant. Not a single morsel had been left of her when GaleStream finished and the Hurricane stirred down.

_**Kitty Kat (DEAD)**_

**The effects of the Shadow Tag Dream Link has been lifted.**

Kyrino smiled, "So that's what it was, huh?

"Oh… not again," Oasis closed his eyes and waited for the inevitable he was about to be given.

"Just go home, kid. We'll let it slide for now," JadeStrike shooed.

The Golduck boy's eyes lit up, "Really?!"

"Nope!" Blazefang latched his sharp claws and dug it into Oasis's skull. "Tell your leader to stop messing with us or we'll beat you so many times, you'll disband yourself!" Oasis nodded. "Well then, with all that said…" Blazefang cocked back his strong arm . **"OFF YOU GO!"**

And Blazefang threw the kid off into the skyline, where he twinkled bright like a star.

_**Oasis (DEAD)**_

"That was excitable," GaleStream mumbled. "A lot more excitable than I thought it be, but I'll be on my way now. Next time we meet, let's have a battle, Grim Reaper!" When the Noivern hybrid pressed her luck with the blue teleportation crystal, it had been successful. Just like that, she was gone.

"I think this is the only time we're glad to see you, Blazefang!" JadeStrike joked. "But in all seriousness, thanks for the help."

"If you didn't come here, then they would've been absolutely and utterly fucked! But it's not like they aren't used it by now!" Starlight proclaimed with a large laugh. Kyrino and JadeStrike gave a bewildered face at Stellar Starlight, who just noticed what she just said out loud. "Oh… we aren't in Everline.. so my cursing doesn't get censored…. _riiiiiigggghhttt_… woops."

"It's 8:29, so we have to leave... like right now," JadeStrike said, opening her green options menu. "Ready for work?"

"Hardly, but I guess so," Kyrino followed her lead and opened his menu, ready to press the "Log Out" button.

"You two don't get too busy with work, now!" Blazefang winked.

"Starlight, remind to punch Jason in the face when I see him again. I'll see you guys, later!" JadeStrike logged off the servers and simmered from existence.

Kyrino didn't say anything and just logged off behind her. As his entire body withered away, Blazefang called his name.

"The stars are aligning, dude!"

All Kyrino could do was sigh.

_**Sigh for his annoying and entertaining friend**._

* * *

**Real Life**

* * *

_There's a slight confession I need to make…_

**_A part of me likes Kyle._**

**_A part of Kyle likes me._**

It sounds weird, doesn't it? Only a part? Why only a part when I can give my whole self to him? It's sorta complicated in a way that makes perfect sense. I think he knows that a part of me loves him. And I know that a part of him loves me too.

Seems odd because we act out of this "we can't stand each other" thing. Reality is…. we both love each other.

However, if we were to expound on those feelings, we risk ruining the stable relationship we already have. It sorta works like the game of _Towers_: You can try to build on the tower by removing the pieces from the middle and place it on the top. Afterwards, you watch to see if everything falls. If it doesn't, good for you. If it does fall, then everything tumbles down. The only thing that remains is the foundation…

_Forced to build it all over again. And no two towers are the same_.

So I think it's better to simply have nothing change than to risk collapsing it.

"Hey, Nicole," Kyle called to me. I shook my head out of the trance of staring outside the glass window, down into the passing road. My hand cupped the bottom of my chin, smudging my face somewhat up.

"Yo?" I respond unenthusiastically.

Kyle pressed the button to his side and popped the lock on my door. Why he had child lock on his car doors were completely beyond me. "We're here," he informs me.

"Oh yeah," I yawned, leaning over the car window as my body seemingly refuses to get up. Kyle took one step from the outside of the vehicle. In return, I finally did the same and exited the car door. We were standing in a large parking lot. It's very spacious, considering that many people goes to Devon Corp. for job opportunities. You had your lawn marred by fake flora and fake glass. There's a fountain right in front of the skyscraper, which stood miles above Scenic Homes and the tallest building in Castelia combined. It's daunting- intimidatingly daunting. The skies above were clouded and shielded with smoke like any other day.

This is the Devon Corporation of the Hoenn region, if it was anything.

I stood by Kyle's side, allowing my interview dress to blow through the wind. His lips had been unusually sealed since we barely exited Dream Link while still being on schedule. Something about his utter lack of silence made me a bit mad, "What the hell are you crying over?!"

"I'm not crying… I'm just thinking," Kyle flatly addressed. What the hell did that loser have to think about? The only reads I was getting at were the fact that Kyle had his green eyes aimed at the tower above. But what would that matter? Eyes are attracted to big things. Big things like skyscrapers.

Great, I'm doing it again. I'm getting too invested in what Kyle had to think over.

The only words left for my mouth to ask were the easiest, "Does it have something to do with DLO?"

"Sorta.. yeah," Kyle admitted. I found myself pouting at the vague answer. So much so that I decided to survey the skyscrapers, doing my best to ignore it. Suspicious, Kyle leered at me and sighed. "Nicole, I have a question."

I huffed a huge breath out of my mouth, "What?"

"You ever feel like that for your entire life, nothing's changed?"

Odd. My depressed friend definitely worded that in a weird way, yet I could see where he was going at. Has anything changed in my life? And then I realized…

That was a stupid question.

Here I am, about ready to go on the interview which can potentially shape my whole life and Kyle seems to not see it. I moved, I met so many people, and I'm here with him. The guy staring off into blank space is more of a mystery than I thought he'd be. He's a completely different person from online and it feels weird.

But at the time, it makes me happy.

It makes me happy that he's more aware about this world than that stupid persona he gives himself online. I can't stand Kyrino.

I clicked open my cell phone and checked the time**. 8:52**. We still have a bit of time. I allowed my weakness to show with a subtle grin, "For a while, yeah. I always thought it had to do with time moving by much quicker when you're older. Then you get to realize that time goes by slower when you're having fun, even as one of the grownups."

"So do you mean like Dream Link?" Kyle tried to understand.

"Well… sorta. But if keep doing something you enjoy to do, then even that becomes formulaic and boring. I mean, DLO is cool and all, but play it everyday and you practically know the game like a textbook. And if that isn't boring, than I don't know what is," I enlightened.

I could already tell that my explanation is a bit too disorienting for Kyle. His hair dug into his black scalp, "What do you mean?"

"I mean… I cook, right?" I discuss. Kyle nodded his head. "Okay, I cook and I like to do it, but I don't do it everyday. If I did it everyday, then it becomes routine. And then I'll hate it. So, if I want to continue to enjoy cooking, I make sure that I only do it during special occasions and that I do it with someone around."

Kyle let out this signal of understanding. He dropped his jaw, widened his mouth, and let out an "Oh… so is that why you cooked for me?"

"Yeah…" I made a malicious and hardy smirk. "Are we gonna stay here or are we going to actually go in and do our jobs?!"

The poor guy slapped himself in the face, "Sorry, I totally went off on tangent there, didn't I? I don't want to make you late for your interview. I'm sorry that I'm making you talk about my problems!"

He's really beginning to get on my nerves. I gave him a good slap on the back, to which Kyle jumped back in complete shock with his eyes closed and left palm on his backside, "**WHAT THE HELL, NICOLE?!"**

I'm not too sure if my next course of action had been wise. My left hand reached out to Kyle's right palm. The two hands made love and interlocked with one another. I didn't blush, but I am holding his hand. Kyle finished rubbing the irritating injury and witnessed that I had forced my hand around his. He didn't say another word of it. Kyle made a small, idiotic grin, "You come over at near seven, cook breakfast for me, play games with me, and forced me to drive you to a job. What are you, my mom?!"

"Pfft, have you seen your bedroom? You need a mom!" I quipped.

"I have a system, okay?! Everything has its place and every place has its thing!"

"Does that system involve being lazy?"

It's **8:54**. We were just in the parking lot of Devon Studios, talking about generic life bizz. And the funny part is the fact that Kyle didn't let go of my hand at this point. If anything, it felt a tidbit tighter than when I embraced it.

_I enjoy our relationship_.

It's neither one where I'm friendzoned or one where we're committed. Call us cowards, but it's how we feel. Keep a steady tower standing; don't ruin it. That's my mentality of life. As much as I was in love with Kyle, Kyle was in love with Nicole. We both knew it. There's something about finalizing this bond that makes the experience all the less.

Maybe now that we're living under the same roof, something might change. And to be honest, I don't want change. As a matter of fact, if it were up to me...

Nothing about our relationship would change. So between you and me…

_**I will see to it that it stays that way.**_

* * *

**Episode 1: Nothing Changes END**

* * *

**Saving your game's progress and data.…**

**Please do not unplug your Virtual Reality (VR) headset or remove Dream Link Online from your computer. Failure to comply may result in corruption of save data or damage to your VR headset!**

**Save Complete!**

* * *

**Slash's Footnote:**

**There's a lot of things that got introduced this chapter. In terms of characters, settings, themes, and conflicts, this is probably one of my most packed chapters in terms of content. Or maybe it isn't. You may or may not know, I recently took a break from writing and began to outline some stuff. This meant that it's taking longer to produce some more stuff on my account. But no worries, summer is coming up and every is going to save SOME free time. This has been DJTiki and I'll see you on the next episode of Dream Link Online!**

**Thanks to all these users for their OC's who appeared this part!**

**Flaw_InThePlan: Error 16**

**averytinyragemachine: Vulkodlak**

**GaleStream2000: PokeThatPokemon**

_**Review Replies:**_

**OPFan37: Dat TOME Prolouge, tho. I wanted to try and hit something that's realistic in a real life setting. Hence, why I have romantic themes and themes on mundane life. Something that's more relatable than a trainer journey or PMD stories. Give something people can compare themselves to. **

**Ckbrothers (Guest): EoaS didn't really kill my entire drive to write. I just need a small break from THAT story.**

**Error 16: Don't worry, I wanted people to think that Kyrino was the villain, hence why his name isn't introduced until WAY late in the chapter. Also, no, it isn't set in the same world as EoaS (although I did think about it at one point).**

**EmeraldoftheStars: No, thank you for reading. Glad this idea hasn't been done before because I would be a sad sap if it did :3**

**Cottonmouth25: Maybe the Pokémon absence question is something for a later episode… hmm…**

**ShadeZyro: I think using speech like "Lol", "Lmfao", facial expression, and such is great if used at the right time. Glad I could make it relatable for everyone. :)**

**Emrysthemay: Was this soon enough? XD**

**Lectro Underground: It's a bit hard to not compare this to SAO, but I'll be damned if it ended up like it. No offense to any SAO fans out there.**

**Key and Lock: Kyle and Nicole. I think if I had a ranking of characters I have fun writing, Kyle and Nicole (not Kyrino and JadeStrike) ranks around top 5 for me. The other three are Curly, Rebecca, and Professor Fickle.**

**BringoBongo: Just imagine if it didn't have a long cooldown. He'd use it every battle. *shivers* Super glad you liked this chapter. Thanks for the review!**

**Phantomwriter: I hope you can keep up with my speed. Nah, you'll be fine. I pinky swear :)**

**PokeThatPokemon: Well, I couldn't have asked more than for you to enjoy it! Also, thanks for mentioning me in your blog. Everything's appreciated.**

**Antex- The Legendary Zoroark: Thanks for reading! Glad you liked it!**


	5. Episode 2: Money Talks (Part 1)

_**A/N**: Ello! Welcome back to the story! I know I've kept you waiting, but here it is! Just so you know, I have read all of your responses. And just so you know... if I didn't respond to your PM, then unfortunately, your character will take a minor role in story..._

_I love how you just had a mini heart attack. Don't worry, I didn't reply to anyone. I know who to pick for what roles and that's that. This part is a thousand words shy of the average amount, but I guess that's why we always have two parts, huh? xD. Make sure to read and review as it helps my motivation and stuff. With all that said, **ENJOY :)**_

* * *

New Game

**Continue**

Delete Save File

* * *

_Money makes the world go world, says everyone who had ever existed and to ever exist in the future._

_Same goes for me I guess. I love me some money. And who doesn't? There's just something that makes those slips of paper attractive. What can you say?_

_Money talks._

_You use it to buy everything in the world all the time- from the clothes you wear, to the food you eat, and bills... though those are paid only on occasion. They say you can't buy happiness with dollar bills, which I find to be a load of bull. So I can take me and my future wife on a luxurious cruise and honeymoon for free? Didn't think so._

_You may be asking yourself, why are you talking to me about cash? I know what cash is, I'm smart, I pay my bills on an inconsistent basis. Well, it all began a short while ago. And by short while, I mean yesterday..._

* * *

**Real Life**

* * *

**"Episode 2: Money Talks"**

Nothing like another day of doing nothing, I say to myself jumping out the bed from my overnight sleep. You can feel the thunder preparing to roar. The sun's hiding behind a shelf of grey clouds. The birds are singing. The neighbors upstairs won't stop having sex. It's a good day to be alive. Just need to remember to file that complaint. I hate those guys.

I had a pip in my step and nothing stopping me from tackling the day in style. I pop open my cabinet and smile. I reached for the box of unhealthy cereal and rush over to find a bowl... only to find that were no clean bowls. I cautiously stared at my dirty sink filled with dishes, including all of my bowls. I swear if I look at them long enough, they'll disappear. I'm always disappointed.

Tupperware it is, I guess.

The tupperware rested inside a nearby cabinet by the bowls. Sliding only slightly to the left, I flung open the tupperware cabinet. My mind decided to cup a plastic bowl from the tippity-top of the stack of other plastic bowls. I find that there isn't food particles, mildew, or roaches stuck against the sides of the plastic. Feeling relieved that this is one thing that was kept clean around this place, I gently toss it right side on my table. My hand maneuvers towards the box of cereal. Before I could really think of my actions, I already had a full bowl of cereal and milk. All ready to be viscously devoured.

Nothing like a refreshing Friday morning. _It's a good day to be alive._

Me and my tupperware were like best friends when I took a full dive for the couch, hugging my bowl of cereal against my shirt. Ahead of my vision is a nice flat-screen. No big deal. I see the remote sleeping in the creases of my couch. I grab the remote and point at the television. Signals kick start my television. The picture flashes beautiful colors in my eyeholes. Audio turns up, then syncs up. Now since that was done, there's only one thing left to do…

To the left of me is a red comforter- my personal comforter, matter of fact. My hairy legs were feeling unbearably lonely without it's sheet of warmth. It would be really awful of me not to accommodate its needs. So being the generous man I am, I cover up and place my bowl of cereal over my lap. Thus my morning routine is finished. One tiny spoonful of deliciousness later- I'm in heaven.

_It's an awesome day to be alive._

I watch at the television screen, shoving more breakfast in my throat. It was set to the news channel. However, these newscasters weren't standing in a green screen or in the real world. Surprisingly enough, a newscaster held her ground in some awfully familiar virtual space. The primrose bricked walkways, the marketplaces, the amount of newbies, and the deathly sunny atmosphere gave it all away. Yep, this newscast is taking place in Dream Link Online, in the HUB of Everline to be more precise.

The chick holding the mic didn't look too shabby at all. She's a pretty young Caucasian with nice, hypnotic, blue eyes. Her silver hair was tied into a french braid- not a bad combination, not at all. On her back are majestic wings that you typically find with Beautifly hybrids. Like a Beautifly should be, her dress black and gray. I can make a fair assumption that she has some armor underneath that dress. And as much as the camera showed, there's a small tattoo on her right shoulder, though I couldn't make out what it was.

I'd tap that.

She had her microphone crushed in her sparkling white gloves. Being the expert of Dream Link that I was, it was an easy observation to notice those white gloves came from a recent DLC package just for Bug-type hybrids. Girl knows how to get her game on, I guess.

She began speaking, though that small body didn't back up her mature tone. Looks like someone went through puberty early. A name display inched in a blue bar across the screen.

Text pops up in a big, bold white, "**_Carmen Rose_**".

"I'm here in the HUB of Everline where players are scrambling to find other members of their party to compete in this year's Lucidity Challenge; where a party of five will compete with other parties in various quests, battles, and adventures for an entire weekend for the chance to win a variety of cash prizes and exclusive gear for their avatar. I'm here with the moderator and programmer of Dream Link Online, Jirachi!"

The microphone transitions over to the Super Moderator. Likewise, the camera pans to show how exceptionally important this no-good shell of a moderator was in this event. It goes without saying, I disdain her. The smug look on her face almost makes my milk sour.

"Hello! Glad to see you!" Jirachi greeted with a smile that I can only interpret as her own facade to promote this game.

"Glad to see you too. Jirachi, how do you feel about this year's Lucidity Challenge? I know that you had a hand in developing the sidequests and battle scenarios for our players, therefore you must have something to share on this massive event, correct?"

Jirachi delightfully obliged, "I would be glad to. You see, we at Devon Studios believe that this year's Lucidity Challenge will the best one yet! When the Director of Dream Link Online approached me about the challenge, he insisted that our quests and battles are amped up to levels that even the most skilled of players will have trouble in. We also bent some of the rules to intensify the experience all the more!" Jirachi, having the memory of a Stunky, didn't elaborate any further on the subject.

"You have to have more, right? For the folks at home?" Carmen nudged.

Jiarchi's face scrunched up. To give her credit, I'd be pretty apprehensive too if some paparazzi was on my tip about something I should keep secret, "I can't… really… talk too much on the subject... but just take my word that when this airs on streams and televisions across the world this weekend, it will be a feast for the eyes! Trust me, us at Devon Studios worked day and night to assure that this challenge weekend is better than all the others combined."

"That's quite the claim to make. Lucidity is a pretty big event in DLO after all. I can't wait to see the action unfold!"

The Beautifly-hybrid faced the camera, piercing me with her fluorescent blue souls. "Remember that you too can compete in this competition! Just make sure that you're five member party are signed up at a nearby Dream Link HUB before tonight. Tonight is the last day that sign ups will be up! You will be able to sign-up until **11:59 P.M**. Western Hoenn Time."

Carmen returned to gawk at the moderator some more. Oh, excuse me, "Super Moderator". Her microphone is tilted at Jirachi, implying that she had a question. "Is there any advice that you can give the participating parties in this challenge?"

What does the all-knowing Moderator have to endow upon us mortals?

Jirachi tilted her head from left to right, stroking her chin, "Weelllll…. if there was any advice I can give to the players is that this year, teamwork should take priority over anything else. These are our most challenging missions yet- no pun intended. It goes without saying that these events combined with a new ruleset will call for the best leadership skills and player drive to surpass. You can't slack if you plan to reach the top."

The camera pans back to Carmen's soft baby face, "You heard it here first. If you want to win this exceptionally more difficult variant of the Lucidity Challenge, then you must give nothing less than your all. This has been Carmen Rose of the Hoenn News Network reporting live from the Everline HUB of Dream Link Online. After this break, Austin Drake will provide you with the we-"

And then the television flicked off.

That was weird. I stared out the window to find that though the clouds were still heavy with grey, there was not a single drop of rain to fall. I might've just pressed the "Off" Switch with my ass. I lifted my knees just a tad bit, holding my booty over the couch cushions while still keeping myself warm in my comforter and satisfied with my bowl of cereal… because multitasking. My eyes lit up at the revelation that the T.V remote wasn't there. That was even odder. I swore I had that thing just a second ago.

And then I just so happened to look right above my head.

"Are you seriously doing this again?! This place is a mess, and all you can do is sit down and munch on cereal?!"

Great. Here we go… _again_.

I aggressively slammed the bowl on the table and threw the comforter off of me. She does this type of shit everyday and it's getting on my last nerves. "Really? I literally clean up everyday! Tell Dad to wash his dishes when he comes home. He doesn't do anything anyways, God."

"Your Dad has a job," she defended.

"Just because he has job doesn't mean he's gotta be a slob. Come on, Mom."

Her nose flared, "You _know_ what I mean."

Oh, so it's one of these conversations, ain't it? I'm not having this. Instead of fueling her own stupidity, I just firmed my booty right back on that couch. At least this way, I may get my butt groove spotted in the couch again. I'm not about to hear this again. I rested the comforter back on my thighs. This is too good of a day to let her ruin.

I guess she figured out by now that I'm not buying what's she's selling. She huffed, "You know what? Your Dad's probably right. I've been taking care of your sorry ass for years. I could've given you away. I could've aborted you. But no, I kept you and raised you. Sometimes, I cry myself to sleep because this whole time, I thought it was my fault the way you ended up." In a disappointed sigh, she nodded her head and got a good look at me. It's as if my humble presence had been the most horrifying smell known to the world, "Look at you, you're twenty years old. You don't have money. You don't have a house. You're not in college. You don't even clean up after yourself! All you do is sit around and play video games!"

I am not responding to that garbage.

She pointed her finger right at the back at my head. "You know what? Keep that face up. I got something for you! I want to see your face when I give it to you!"

A present? It must be Christmas.

My mom stormed off in an anger-fueled frenzy. Well, that's definitely one to solve a problem. I can go back to my cereal now. I reached for my tupperware container of mostly milk. Unfortunately, my Mom doesn't know the first meaning of "I'm not responding to that garbage." She came storming back in the living room. She had seized a piece of paper. I looked at her more annoyed than by curious. Her stare is cold and long winded. If she's gauging my response to check if I was still ignoring her, then my answer is still the same...

I am not responding to that garbage.

She smirked, "Oh, this'll make you talk."

Okay?

Her beefy hands slapped my thighs so hard that I could feel my legs tremor like small earthquakes. She left the paper on my legs to pick up and read. And I did just that. I scanned through the words on the page. Each word was progressively more scrutiny and evil than the last. I couldn't believe what the hell I was reading. There's no goddamn way I was reading this right. No.

I perked back up, nearly spilling the milk from the tupperware.

"You can't possibly be serious."

She sure as hell knew what she doing. "Oh, looks like you're actually taking me seriously. You got two weeks. You either pay the bill or take you and your video game, and get the fuck out of my house. Whichever one comes first."

"How am I gonna make two-grand in two weeks?"

Mom walked to the front door with the feeling of power and triumph, "I don't care what you do. You can suck dick for all I care, but you ain't doing it here. I didn't want to have to do this to you, Jacob, but you left me and your dad with no other choice. Two-grand by two weeks or you're leaving." Her face curled into a smile, tauntingly so, "See you around, sweetie!"

And then she exited the building.

She's not playing, is she? This isn't some cruel sick joke. No- this is a joke. How the hell do I get two-grand in fourteen days? That's not even enough time to get a job, go through the training, and get my first few paychecks.

A roar of thunder crashed throughout the world. Rainfall pats the ground at tremendous speed.

_What a horrible day to be alive._

* * *

_**…Loading Chat Room...**_

_**Razzerr** entered the Chat Room_

**{Razzerr}: Hey, is anyone here?**

**{Nimbus}: Yello, Lancelot. Sorry, no one's here. They all died horrible deaths.**

**{Razzerr}: Well, isn't that wonderfully depressing? R.I.P XD**

**{DataStream}: Wait? I didn't die. What are you talking about?**

**{Nimbus}: It's a joke, dude. Do you even internet? :|**

**{SavingGracie}: How do you even internet to begin with?**

**{Razzerr}: I think there's a simple formality when it comes to the web.**

**{Razzerr}: But should we really ask these sorts of questions to Nimbus?**

**{Nimbus}: Guilty as charged**

**{Nimbus}: I'm like a total expert on the internet. ;)**

**{DataStream}: I'm willing to bet that you don't know a lick of HTML.**

**{SavingGracie}: HTM-what?**

**{DataStream}: Hypertext Markup Language.**

**{SavingGracie}: Nope, still don't get you.**

**{Razzerr}: It's the invaluable language used to give visual presence to an internet web page :)**

**{SavingGracie}: Oh… okay. Thanks, Razzerr. 3**

**{DataStream}: I guess that's the simple way of explaining it.**

**{Nimbus}: Who needs HTML? There are only two things you need to know about the internet.**

**{Nimbus}: Social Networking and Pornography. ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)**

**{DataStream}: …**

**{SavingGracie}: Wow.**

**{Nimbus}: Yep, I totally went there.**

**{Razzerr}: It's true though.**

**{Nimbus}: I'm pretty sure DataStream is better expert than I am. :p**

**{SavingGracie}: You're on fire today.**

**{DataStream}: Can we get back on topic? What are we going to do for the Lucodaty Challenge?**

**{DataStream}: *Lucidity**

**{Razzerr}: As the group leader, I can't enter us in until we have a party of five.**

**{Razzerr}: No more. No less.**

**{SavingGracie}: Right. Are we still trying to get her?**

**{Nimbus}: Idk. I can ask her again. But the answer is probably the same…**

**{DataStream}: I wouldn't be surprised. She's a top-level player. There's no way she'd bother with us. Especially since most of us don't rank.**

**{SavingGracie}: Is she even the type of person we want in our party? If we were to win, she'd take all the credit because she ranks.**

**{Razzerr}: Don't count us out yet. Remember, I rank too. Probably not as high as Typhoon, but even then. We can make it. ^_^**

**{Nimbus}: Doesn't quite solve our being-one-player-short-of-registration problem.**

**{SavingGracie}: ^**

**{Razzerr}: In that case, do you think JadeStrike's still available?**

**{SavingGracie}: We do NOT need a second Nimbus in our party.**

**{DataStream}: I highly doubt it. JadeStrike's a beautiful and powerful Gauntlet user. She's probably getting requests left and right.**

**{Nimbus}: You got the hots for her or something? XD**

**{Razzerr}: You're being undoubtedly more difficult today, aren't you?**

**{Nimbus}: It comes with the package. ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)**

**{Nimbus}: I'll go talk her up for you guys.**

**{Nimbus}: Set the mood.**

**{Nimbus}: Light some candles.**

**{Nimbus}: Warm up the bubble bath.**

**{SavingGracie}: Do you have the hots for her or something? n_n**

**{Nimbus}: Sorry, I was told to not give away sensitive information to greasy internet criminals. n_n**

**{DataStream}: Gracie's a criminal?!**

**{Razzerr}: I think you should really learn what a joke is, no offense.**

***DataStream sighs**

**{DataStream}: Non taken.**

**{Nimbus}: Hey, what do you know? She's online right at this second.**

**{Razzerr}: Absolutely fantastic! I guess it goes without saying that you should ask her.**

**{SavingGracie}: And what if she says no?**

**{Razzerr} Then we just keep searching until we find someone to fill the spot. It is our last day after all.**

**{SavingGracie}: I wouldn't mind that option. After all, we do NOT need another Nimbus in our party.**

**{Nimbus}: We don't need a SavingGracie in our party either.**

**{SavingGracie}: Wanna fight me about it?**

**{Nimbus}: Sure, I can kick your ass after I come back. But for now, I'll be seeing you guys!**

**{DataStream}: See you later. Good luck.**

**{Razzerr}: Good luck. See you in a little bit. Adios.**

**{Nimbus}: Hugs and Kisses. Bye Bye**

_Nimbus left the Chat Room_

* * *

**Dream Link Online**

* * *

**Pastorion**

An ancient city ground HUB is wrapped with lush green vines and plant life. Stone erodes away from the fierce winds which blows through the temples' pores and weaknesses. The plants gave these bland buildings the splash of color they rightfully deserved. Though not much time has passed since this game's creation, nonetheless, it had felt the roars of time had destroyed and rebuilt this HUB multiple times. Pastorion felt unstable- yes, but it felt more tune to the likes of nature than anything else.

A certain Metagross hybrid nabs a couple steps in the beige pavement. Her head is in the clouds, daydreaming. She thought about the job she had recently applied for and what that had brought for her. A new home. A new scenery. Hell, she could even say that a new relationship had been kindled between herself and Kyle.

Besides, she always preferred this HUB anyways.

As expected, when she opened her ears to the surrounding players, the banter filled the breezing gust with chitter chatter about the Lucidity Challenge- a challenge she had yet to register in, mind you.

_"Are you part of a team?"_

_"What's our plan in this Challenge?"_

_"We so got this in the bag. Everyone here sucks!"_

_"I'm hearing rumors that Typhoon isn't part of a team yet. Do you think she's entering at all?"_

_"I think I'll just watch this on the livestream. The competition is too heavy this year."_

Those were some of the many lines that JadeStrike couldn't escape hearing. Despite where she would go, how far she would run, or how well she would hide, Jade couldn't find silence from the pre-challenge discussion. _This challenge sure gets everyone riled up_, she thought to herself. Hopefully we get a fifth team member before the end of the day. Jade swiped across the cool air to bring up a forest-green holographic menu.

**Username: JadeStrike **_{Tap to Change}_

**Species Hybrid: Metagross**

**Speciality: Iron Gauntlets **_{Tap to Change}_

**287/ 287 HP (100% Remaining)**

**150/150 MP (100% Remaining)**

**Level 51 (1,675,098 Experience Points)**

**302 W, 67 L, 7 T**

**Weapon Type: Gauntlet **_{Tap to Change}_

**Weapon Name: Meta-Gross **_{Tap to Change}_

**Dream Link(s): Tough Claws, Clear Body, Guts**

**Current Location: Pastorion**

**Current Party Members: Kyrino, Blazefang (Offline), Stellar Starlight **_{Tap to Leave}_

{_Change Account Settings}_

_{Invisible Mode: Off}_

_{Goto HOME}_

**{Log Off}**

_Huh? Looks like Blazefang hasn't come on yet. Weird. I guess I'll shoot him a PM. He'd usually be on by now. I wonder what's keeping him_, JadeStrike decided to herself. Upon inspecting her current stats, she wound up tapping on Blazefang's bolded name in order to maximize his account information. The account information flashed in her face, displaying Blazefang's information as well as a portrait of his avatar.

**Username: Blazefang (Offline)**

**Species Hybrid: Arcanine**

**Speciality: Wild Beast**

**409/ 409 HP (100% Remaining)**

**132/ 132 MP (100% Remaining)**

**Level 47 ( 1,398,154 Experience Points)**

**217 W, 54 L, 2 T**

**Weapon Type: Claws**

**Weapon Name: Twin Blazers**

**Dream Link(s): Flash Fire, Intimidate**

**Current Location: Offline**

**Current Party Members: Stellar Starlight, Kyrino, JadeStrike**

_{Remove From Friends List}_

_{Private Message}_

_{Request Chat Room}_

_{Report}_

As tempting as "Report" sounded to mess with him, JadeStrike touched the "Private Message" tab. A keyboard popped open, giving everything she could need to message him. In that moment before she could make out even the slightest stroke, Jade paused to reevaluate herself. I am worried about him, but I'll be damned if he got the wrong idea.

The Metagross inhaled. The air from her lungs released at the moment of her first key stroke. From there, it had been simple to continually run through the keyboard almost like butter. Upon finishing, she had a final rundown on her message:

_{To: Blazefang}_

_{From: JadeStrike}_

_{Subject: Where U At?}_

**Hey, asshole! Why aren't you on yet? I thought we all agreed to meet online in the morning to talk about the Lucidity Challenge or whatever. I hope you didn't make plans with another party, or I'll beat you senseless. But I understand if got some issues irl or whatever. It's not like I care. Just hurry up and get on. You're making Starlight worry about you, stupid dunce! Hurry up and meet up with Kyrino and Starlight. Starlight hopes you're okay, btw.**

**Well, that's all I gotta say. Stop being a lazy bum and get on.**

_That sounds way too mean-spirited. I don't wanna come off as some pretentious douchebag who can't wait._ A burst of inspiration punched her. JadeStrike made out eight clean strokes on the keyboard. She examined it again, this time, she possessed a warm smile.

**Well, that's all I gotta say. Stop being a lazy bum and get on, plz. :p**

_Much better. Anything can be interpreted as a joke as long as you add a smiley face. This'll do. _Without any further hesitation, she confirmed her message with the "Send" option.

_…Sending Message…_

**_Message Sent!_**

The dialogue boxes closed on their own. JadeStrike yawned. _Maybe Kyrino and Starlight found their fifth member. I guess it'll be better if I just meet up with them now._

*_Tip_*

Sudden instinct alerted her body from the tiny noise above all else. Her drowsiness elevated from a calm, lazy level to a spunky and spontaneous mode. Her hardcore gauntlets twisted around her arms like gears on a clock. She's ready. And upon her readiness, she heard exactly what she had been looking for. A feminine artificial voice warned her in a calm tone,

"Challenger Approaching…"

JadeStrike smirked and jumped back.

As she did, she narrowly dodged a couple of round orange shots which indented the pavement in a ferocious blast of fire. JadeStrike bent down and dug her golden claws into the ground to gain traction from evading the last attack. When her momentum stopped, she stood back up, dusting her palms off.

"Better luck next time, Charlie."

Her opponent revealed herself to the Metagross hybrid. This opponent is a pale, freckled woman at about an average height, but with athletic build. Her hair is swooped up in a spiky crop of sorts- which had been colored light blue from her roots and faded to an almost grey-ish white.

She wears a white short-sleeved top that leaves her navel exposed under a light blue zipper vest. She also has light blue shorts on her legs, matching that of her vest- which is all held up by a cotton fluffed belt.

* * *

**Username: Nimbus**

**Species Hybrid: Altaria**

**Speciality: Berserker**

* * *

Nimbus curls her white gloves into a pointer, staring Jade down with her dominant, purple eyes. "You know how _expensive_ it is to battle you?! Fire Blast Gold doesn't grow on trees you know. You could've been a bit more sensitive to my feelings and at least got hit by one."

"Oh, I'm sorry. I'll make sure to keep that in mind next time you sneak attack me," Jade mocked. "Besides, you should've waited until I was outside a HUB to attack me. That way, I wouldn't have seen you coming."

"Looks like someone doesn't have a life," Nimbus returned.

Jade snickered before challenging, "Bite me."

Nimbus laughed in return. Her arms transformed from her previous blasters to a gauntlet fist. These weapons appeared much similar to Jade's, though the metal is white instead of a metallic grey and blue instead of the deadly gold. "Fine, Stratus and Cirrus had been itching for a battle, anyways."

Nimbus charged slowly at JadeStrike. Her right fist, Stratus, is cocked back behind her head. Her grip crushes the metal in her palms, charging up in a bronze colored fury. JadeStrike watched closely at her next move. _This has to be Ground-type module. She's slow anyways. I won't have a single problem dodging this._

The Altaria-hybird slammed down Stratus towards JadeStrike. At it's last moments, she backed away with a quick bounced. Instead of a direct hit, Nimbus slammed her right gauntlet into the pavement. JadeStrike giggled and taunted, "Loser. Wish you had invested more in the Speed stat, now don't ya?"

The Metagross made a surprisingly soft landing for a Steel-type. She stuck her tongue out, "You're too slow!"

Nimbus laughed at her, "What made you think that was the attack?" Jade stared at her right arm. The ground-type glow sustained itself still._ Oh crap._ "Earthquake!" Nimbus forced Stratus even deeper into the Pastorion stone flooring. A quick shockwave bounced from the epicenter like a ripple in tides. Jade wasn't quick enough to jump and evade it. Her avatar forced itself to buckle from the damage.

_**The attack was Super-Effective!**_

Jade stared at her HP Bar to examine the damage dealt:

**68/ 287 HP (24% Remaining)**

"Aw, man. It didn't one shot you. Probably because I'm not a Ground-type hybrid or whatever. Wish you had invested more in the Defense stat, now don't ya?" Nimbus said in a sarcastic and belittling tone.

_That was stupid. She waited for me to land before using EQ_. JadeStrike, "Alright. Alright. You win this round, Miss High and Mighty."

"Damn straight." Nimbus approached Jade with her arm extended towards her. JadeStrike accepted her kindness and was pulled back on her feet. She dusted herself off from the stone debris on her outfit. Nimbus poked her on the cheek, "Don't worry, we're rivals. That's what rivals do. I win. You lose."

"Did you want something or what?" Jade inquired.

"Yeah... let's go sit down and talk about it."

* * *

"That's what you want? You want me to fill your last slot in your party?" Jade repeated.

Nimbus manifested a nervous smile. She took Stratus and Cirrus off the table and crossed her arms. She nodded, "What do you say? With our skills, we can totally own the Lucidity Challenge!"

"I appreciate the gesture and all, but I kinda already sold my soul to another party."

"Wait, what?! That's whack," Nimbus yelped. The yelp devolved into a sigh, "Who's in charge?"

"Kyrino. He's an Absol-hybrid."

"That Grim Reaper guy? So by sold your soul, you literally meant, sold you soul," Nimbus jokingly stated. _I guess you could say that_, she told herself. Nimbus smacked her lips, "Man, this sucks. I promised the other guys that I'd pull you in. I can't really do that if you're already registered, though."

Jade rubbed the back of her neck, "I'm not exactly registered in the challenge yet. We're kinda still looking for a fifth member. Actually, that's what Kyrino's doing right now."

"Then ditch 'em," Nimbus suggested.

"You know I can't do that, Charlie," Nicole responded.

"Come on, Nicole! We never hang out anymore. What happened to being inseparable? And then I ended up getting kicked out and had to move to Lavaridge and you stayed at Unova. Just join us. I didn't tell you to break up with your boyfriend. It can be just like old times again, you know?"

"I know, but I sorta already made my promise with the others. I'd kinda be screwing them over if I just broke that promise."

"You're right… well we did have a backup plan just in case. Just sorta wish we could hang more," Nimbus expressed with sorrow. "Can't you just come move to Hoenn?"

Realizing what she had yearned this entire conversation, Jade smacked herself in the forehead. Nimbus curled her left eyebrow at the Metagross, "What's up?"

"Dude, I live in Hoenn now. I totally forgot to tell you! I just interviewed for Devon Corp," Jade announced.

Astonished, that small detail was just enough to perk the Altaria right back up. "You should've said something sooner, b****. You better come and visit too. It's not everyday that I get to meet up with a friend from high school. And you know how many friends I had back then."

"Yeah, sorry I didn't tell you sooner. That was a pretty selfish on my part."

"Nah, you're good. So when's our date?"

Jade snickered, "As soon as I beat you in the Lucidity Challenge."

Nimbus shot a cocky smirk, "Oh, so it's gonna be like that, huh? You're one to talk considering I handed your ass on a platter just a minute ago."

"I just let you win. Any other day, I'd scho-"

A private message notification interrupted JadeStrike's flaunting. Nimbus grinned, "Is that the Mr. Grim Reaper himself?"

"Nah, it's a member of my party responding to me," Jade corrected. She pressed the notification to reveal Blazefang's reply:

_{To: JadeStrike}_

_{From: Blazefang}_

_{Subject, RE: Where U At?}_

**Sorry. I didn't forget, I was about to get on but some shit went down. The problem is sorted now. I'm about to hop on the servers. I'll be at Everline, so don't make me wait. I'll apologize to Starlight when I get on. But hey, once we get our fifth teammate then we're gonna tear up this Lucidity Challenge! :3**

**I'm on, so stop yelling at me plz! Bye!**

Jade gazed at Nimbus, "I'm about to go to Everline to meet up with the rest of my party. You coming?"

Nimbus shook her head from left to right, "I'll pass. I gotta tell my party the sad news. Besides, Everline is too packed with newbies for my liking."

Jade entered her inventory and lightly tapped on a blue crystal. Upon the crystal digitally creating itself in the palm of her hands, Nicole waved goodbye to her friend. "See you later, then. Good luck, you're gonna need it."

Nimbus waved, "Hugs and kisses! Bye Bye!"

* * *

**_…Loading Chat Room…_**

**{?}: It's almost time. Is everything ready?**

**{?}: As ready as it'll ever be. So she left?**

**{?}: Apparently. If not, then we have bigger problems to work with.**

**{?}: I don't care. This mission will be a success. Is that clear?**

**{?}: Yeah... installing the DOB into the terrain is going to be a lot of work.**

**{?}: That's not an issue. The issue is if you decide to go through with it.**

**{?}: After the DOB runs its course, this world will be forced to change.**

**{?}: Our biggest concern is the participating players. The Lucidity Challenge will provide a good distraction. However, we will only look more suspicious.**

**{?}: That's why you'll be running under an alias.**

**{?}: What?**

**{?}: Same here, I'm not sure if I'm following.**

**{?}: He means we will enter this challenge using our other name.**

**{?}: Oh... got you.**

**{?}: This challenge will take you to the outer reaches of DLO itself, I expect you to be on your toes. Failure is not an option.**

**{?}: Are we receiving any help?**

**{?}: I've already contacted a few top ranked players in the game. They agreed to help us, take it that we provide them with money.**

**{?}: And what are they helping us with?**

**{?}: They will not participate in the challenge itself. All they are providing is information regarding the other registered players.**

**{?}: Everything seems to be going smoothly. Anything else?**

**{?}: No, that is all. I expect you to give nothing but your best effort. After all...**

**{?}: I hear this Lucidity Challenge in particular is no walk in the park.**

**{?}: With the DOB, I don't think it'll be a problem at all.**

**{?}: I wish you three luck on your mission. We'll be watching from the sidelines. Toodles!**

_? left the chat room._

**_To be continued..._**

* * *

**Slash's Footnote:**

**Don't you just love a good cliffhanger at the middle of the evening. I do too. Told you that it wouldn't take too long. But my track record has been pretty spotty recently, so I can't blame you. It's pretty obvious from this part who's character has a larger role from here. Sorry if you weren't chosen, but that doesn't mean they are omitted entirely. :) **

**Special Thanks to:**

**Phantomtwriter: Carmen Rose/ ?**

**ZorialWater: Nimbus**

**_Review Replies_**

**Ckbrothers: Glad you enjoyed the battle. Hopefully you enjoyed this part too. Thanks for reading!**

**Phantomtwriter: Your character only made half their appearance this chapter. I wonder if we'll see the other half of Carmen.**

**Emrysthemay: You must be pissed! You got this chapter like 2 months later. Woops. You probably shouldn't jinx it. :p**

**Antex- The Legendary Zoroark: I don't know. You tell me ;)**

**Cottonmouth25: Blazefang is a weird guy. But we all love him because he's a tempered weird person. Wait, I made him too much like Sera, dammit! By the way, I mean EoaS Sera.**

**We're All Okay: As long as this reads like a video game and is comprehensible, it's a win in my book. Glad to hear you weren't 100 percent confused.**

**Error 16: Only two characters that are like that. If I counted right.**

**ShadeZyro: OR WILL THEY? Perhaps the Desert Raiders were just a one-off hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm...**

**OPFan37: You're the only one who disliked Blazefang. You must DESPISE him now. Thanks for the kind words, I hope you keep on reading!**

**ZorialWater: By no means is this cruel. If you thought that was good, then you had seen nothing! Trust me, but it'll only get better from here. Hopefully I handled your OC well! Thanks for the constructive criticism. :)**

**Key and Lock: Yes! I got interactions down! Sweet. Kyle and Nicole are some of my favorite characters I had ever written. But they still take backseat to Fye, Walter, and Professor Fickle. ****Thanks for reading! **


End file.
